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12
Should employers be able to make employment decisions based on what they find on your Facebook profile?
Rochester, county set preliminary tax levies
Mon, Sep 17th, 2012
Posted in Rochester Government
Posted in Rochester Government
Comments
Setting a budget is an annual chore for local government that can be counted on to be tedious, complicated, and politically charged. Add in an upcoming election cycle and the process becomes that much more visible; potential ammunition for challengers to question the stewardship of elected leaders.
Cognizant of the situation, the Rochester city council and the county board set the preliminary property tax levies last week. The action is required of all local governments in the state and set a ceiling that cannot be exceeded when it comes time to complete the final budget in December
“We have to be honest, we’re all looking at November and some critical voting that will occur,” said interim city council president Randy Staver. “This figure that we set today will stick in voters’ minds.”
“We’d be remiss if we didn’t consider the full message to the taxpayer base.”
City administrator Steven Kvenvold had initially requested a preliminary levy of $51 million, though not all budget requests were in from city departments. So far, Kvenvold has received $52.5 million in requests from department heads for next year’s operation budgets, in addition to an increase of city staff salary and benefits anticipated to be more than $1.5 million more in 2013. The final 2012 levy was just over $47.93 million.
The city property tax levy has increased by about $2.59 million on average over the last eight years. Taking that into consideration, the council unanimously passed a preliminary levy of just over $50.33 million; a five percent increase over last year.
“It’s like $9.99 versus $10, a psychological barrier,” said council member Bruce Snyder.
The total 2013 preliminary budget was set at $175 million. The final 2012 city budget was $162.41 million.
Mayor Ardell Brede reminded the council that if the city sales tax fails to be extended by voters this November, additional strain will be put on the budget.
The county board of commissioners unanimously set the county’s preliminary tax levy at $82.53 million, a 2.75 percent increase over the 2012 levy, which was held at zero increase over 2011. A preliminary budget of $193 million, down approximately $6 million from 2012, was also adopted.
County administrator Richard Devlin stated that county projects to be funded by Rochester’s city sales tax would be moved to the county’s 2014 general budget if the sales extension fails to be renewed by Rochester voters.
Devlin estimated that new property tax sources increased by one percent in the last year.
Commissioner Matt Flynn suggested reducing the preliminary levy to a two percent increase over 2012.
Board members expressed concern about unknowns including how much funding will come back to Olmsted County from the state legislature and county budget requests remaining unsettled.
“I think that’s the big driver here, we don’t know how we’re going to come out at the end of the day,” said commissioner Paul Wilson.
The county’s truth in taxation hearing will take place on December 6th at 7pm. Rochester’s tax hearing has yet to be scheduled.
“We’ll talk about this a lot more,” said board chair Ken Brown.
Cognizant of the situation, the Rochester city council and the county board set the preliminary property tax levies last week. The action is required of all local governments in the state and set a ceiling that cannot be exceeded when it comes time to complete the final budget in December
“We have to be honest, we’re all looking at November and some critical voting that will occur,” said interim city council president Randy Staver. “This figure that we set today will stick in voters’ minds.”
“We’d be remiss if we didn’t consider the full message to the taxpayer base.”
City administrator Steven Kvenvold had initially requested a preliminary levy of $51 million, though not all budget requests were in from city departments. So far, Kvenvold has received $52.5 million in requests from department heads for next year’s operation budgets, in addition to an increase of city staff salary and benefits anticipated to be more than $1.5 million more in 2013. The final 2012 levy was just over $47.93 million.
The city property tax levy has increased by about $2.59 million on average over the last eight years. Taking that into consideration, the council unanimously passed a preliminary levy of just over $50.33 million; a five percent increase over last year.
“It’s like $9.99 versus $10, a psychological barrier,” said council member Bruce Snyder.
The total 2013 preliminary budget was set at $175 million. The final 2012 city budget was $162.41 million.
Mayor Ardell Brede reminded the council that if the city sales tax fails to be extended by voters this November, additional strain will be put on the budget.
The county board of commissioners unanimously set the county’s preliminary tax levy at $82.53 million, a 2.75 percent increase over the 2012 levy, which was held at zero increase over 2011. A preliminary budget of $193 million, down approximately $6 million from 2012, was also adopted.
County administrator Richard Devlin stated that county projects to be funded by Rochester’s city sales tax would be moved to the county’s 2014 general budget if the sales extension fails to be renewed by Rochester voters.
Devlin estimated that new property tax sources increased by one percent in the last year.
Commissioner Matt Flynn suggested reducing the preliminary levy to a two percent increase over 2012.
Board members expressed concern about unknowns including how much funding will come back to Olmsted County from the state legislature and county budget requests remaining unsettled.
“I think that’s the big driver here, we don’t know how we’re going to come out at the end of the day,” said commissioner Paul Wilson.
The county’s truth in taxation hearing will take place on December 6th at 7pm. Rochester’s tax hearing has yet to be scheduled.
“We’ll talk about this a lot more,” said board chair Ken Brown.
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