• The 4.9% levy increase first proposed was lowered by 1% with proposed expenditures slightly less than in 2024

By Tim Douglass

tdouglass@pctribune.com

The Pope County Board of Commissioners adopted its final budget and property tax levy for 2025 at its regular Board meeting December 17, agreeing to reduce the rise in the levy to 3.9 percent, one percent less than preliminary levy proposed in September.

After a careful review of requested expenditures by Pope County management and outside entities, consideration of the board’s prior preliminary budget and levy adopted in September, and updates from county management on the County’s financial condition, the Board adopted a final property tax levy for 2025 of $10,992,107, which is 3.9% greater than the $10,579,506 levy approved for 2024.  

The Board elected to mitigate the amount of levy dollars raised with a controlled, limited use of general fund balance reserves in the amount of $260,915, down from the budgeted use of reserves of $535,611 approved in 2024.

The final adoption decision was the result of a six-month-long budget process, which included numerous budgetary meetings and reviews, as well as the County’s annual Truth-in-Taxation meeting.

After Hearing members of the public at the Truth in Taxation hearing, the board considered a few options, including the reduction by 1%. 

Commissioner Gordy Wagner moved to reduce the preliminary budget and levy by 1 percent, setting the final levy increase to 3.9% instead of the 4.9% increase.  “There are just so many unknowns at the state and federal levels…I move we lower it to 3.9%, he said.  Commissioner Paul Wildman seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously on the final levy and budget.

The total final Pope County expenditure budget for 2025 was set at $20,989,810, with the portion of the budget not funded by property tax levy funded by program revenues, County Program Aid, and a limited amount of funding reserve. It was a slight decrease from the expenditure budget in 2024 of $21,086,114.

The board also approved the 2025 Pope County HRA budget and levy amount established by previous action on Dec. 4 by the Pope County HRA-EDA Board.  Pope County Housing and Redevelopment Authority adopted its budget and certified a levy of $ 520,000 for payable 2025.

Syverson family recognized as Outstanding Conservationists

In another action, the board passed a resolution recognizing Richard, Victoria,Paul, and Josie Syverson as Pope County Outstanding Conservationists.  The Pope Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) board selected the Syverson and recognized them at its meeting as well.  (See a related story on Page 3A.)

The resolution stated that the Pope SWCD Board and the Pope County Commissioners recognized the Syversons for their “continued work and efforts which are helping Pope SWCD and Pope County in making progress toward our goals to improve the state of impaired waters in our County.  We applaud them for their efforts.”

In other business, the commissioners:

•Appointed Michael Wacker to another four-year term as Pope County Assessor beginning Jan. 1, 2005 and administered the Oath of Office to Wacker.  

•Reviewed the updated clerical changes made after the County Board of Appeal. Wacker provided a list of the changes made since the Notice of Value was sent for the board to review.

•Approved the county’s portion of a land acquisition for Pope/Douglas Solid Waste Management in Douglas County.  The PDSWM Board has been in negotiations and discussions with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) System for the purchase of a portion of land on which the PDSWM waste to energy conversion facility is located, it was stated. According to information provided by PDSWM, an appraiser approved by the parties has appraised property at $450,000, and MnSCU is willing to sell the property for that price to PDSWM.  The proportional ownership of PDSWM by Pope County is 25% percent, which would make the cost to Pope County $112,500.

•Approved a set of 2025 Tobacco Retailer Licenses presented by Horizon Public Health.  The County Board is charged with reviewing and approving or denying such applications for annual licenses pursuant to law and the Pope County Tobacco Ordinance, it was stated.  Jessica Peterson of Horizon Public Health also provided information on compliance activities in the past three years among the licensed establishments. Peterson told the board that there was one Glenwood business, Casey’s at 307 Minnesota Avenue East, that had failed a compliance check three times within a 24 month period.  A compliance check determines if the business sells tobacco to minors under 21.  She said there is a $75 penalty for the first failure, a $200 for the second and a $250 penalty for the third.  The next step is to work with the county attorney on the matter.  Three compliance check failures within 24 months has been rare in Pope County.

•Approved licenses for six solid waste haulers in the county.  The Pope County Solid Waste Ordinance requires that any vendors that want to collect, transport, transfer, process and/or dispose of solid waste must operate with a license issued by the Board of Commissioners.

•Appointed Jason Rupp to new term on the HRA/EDA board.  Rupp is currently on the board for District 5 and was willing to serve another term.

•Appointed Sharon Braaten to another term on the Pope County Extension Committee.  There are two other openings on that committee that the board will fill before the first committee meeting of the year.

• Approved a 2025 schedule for regularly scheduled board meetings follows: County Board meetings are set for the first and third Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m.. This should accommodate all regular meetings.  Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings are to be held on the second Tuesday of each month, except for the following:  November COW on the 11, as it is Veterans Day, so it was moved Nov. 12; December’s COW on the 9th, because of the way the dates land next year for the 2025 AMC convention, was moved to Friday, Dec. 12.  Thursday, December 4 would be the customary evening for the TNT hearing at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of December. All regular and COW meetings are held in the Pope County Courthouse.