Cutting to a four-day work week and privatizing the Freeborn County License Center are just a couple of ideas that candidates running for the Freeborn County 5th Commissioner District seat have in cutting spending and, in turn, stopping the need to raise property taxes.

Increasing property taxes was cited as one of the biggest issues facing Freeborn County by the candidates vying for the commissioner’s seat during a public forum on Jan. 12.

The tax levy was raised 5.6 percent from 2010 to 2011 by the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners. According to Freeborn County Assessor Ryan Rasmusson, the levy increase means that property taxes on a $100,000 residential property would go up by about $7. This brings the county portion of property taxes on a $100,000 residential property to $590.

The general election is 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Since the forum, each candidate has been asked how, more specifically, he or she would propose eliminating the need to raise property taxes. Below were their responses, either via e-mail or phone:

Doug Conn

Doug Conn

“I think the only way you are going to control real estate taxes is through spending. If you keep spending, you’ve got to get the money from somewhere, and the money comes from taxes. You have to look at each department within the county and see if there’s any possible ways to cut in those departments. Go line by line through each department’s budget. The unfortunate scenario is that everybody likes to see a reduction in taxes, but I don’t see that as a reality. With state aid being cut, the money’s gotta come from somewhere. I would work with legislators on local government aid; that’s controlled by the state.”

Chad T. Hayson

“I really believe if we can keep our budget down, we can keep our taxes down. Growth would mean lower taxes. This is what happens in Rochester. They don’t raise taxes because of growth. The lack of growth really is hurting us.

“As far as our out of hand budget, I think we need to look at the number of employees and get rid of some through attrition. When someone retires, or moves on, we should not be replacing that position if there is any way we can staff that position with current employees. I also think the county should sever their ties with the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency until they hire a qualified person to do Executive Director Dan Dorman’s job. There were multiple candidates that interviewed for the job and they had degrees in economic development, but we hired a local tire salesman instead. And where has that tire salesman gotten us so far?

“I also believe that we have to look at getting back to just offering core services, possibly privatizing the driver’s license center and renting out that area of the courthouse. I also think that we need to pursue a long-term contract with the federal government on the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainees. We’ve got jails going up all around us and they’re going to be looking to fill beds just like we are, and if we don’t have a long-term contract, we will have those counties trying to undercut us, and we’ll be back to seeing jail beds going for under $50 a day.

“I think with attrition, and getting county workers to take on extra work, we should be able to get the budget under control, and if that’s under control we don’t have to worry about raising taxes.”

Mike Lee:

Mike Lee

“I think the city and county need to get together quarterly to see if they’re duplicating things to see where we could save costs. One area is to see what the saving would be, if the courthouse went to a four-day work week.

“An area that could be discussed is possibly privatizing the license center by having a private company take over the operations of the license center and renting out the space to them. This would bring in money to the county. Another thing I would like to see done is to run an energy audit on all county buildings and then implement the recommended improvements which, in turn, lower energy costs and save taxpayer dollars. We should always be looking for new ways to bring in new revenue sources, as the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office did with the ICE contract.

“I would ask that all the department heads look to see if there are ways to run their departments more efficiently. I also believe we need to strive to bring good quality jobs to the county — jobs that pay a living wage, where people will come to work, buy a home and raise a family. We have two industrial parks that are empty and a third that it is half-full. The focus now should be on recruiting employers to move here and to assist small businesses that are already here to stay here, grow and expand.

“That is why I believe that a new type of JOBZ program needs to come out of St. Paul this session. JOBZ has been beneficial to Freeborn County to help level the playing field with Iowa. I also believe, that we need to make it very clear to the members of the Legislature and the governor, that they need to stop cutting local government aid funding to the cities and counties of outstate Minnesota and restore the funding that has been cut.

Hugh O’Byrne:

Hugh O'Bryne

“The only way to reduce real estate taxes is to quit spending. Every time the authorities decide to spend this and that, they feel the state’s paying this, but the state’s not, it’s us. The state of Minnesota has to pass along that spending to everybody, so we’re all paying indirectly. We need to start at a local level and first thing, look at budgets in both the city and the county and find out where we can make changes and efficiencies and quit spending money that we don’t have. There’s a lot of little things around the city and county that’s been done to beautify and attractions not really necessary. We should spend that money on promoting the area. We need bike paths, that’s fine, but if we can’t afford them, we can’t afford them. We need to look at all of those frivolous items. There’s too much spending on silly things that don’t count for anything. Lights out on Main Street is absolutely asinine. The city and county need to get together on spending, get communication going between the two so we’re not doubling up on the services. If that’s under control, then we don’t have to worry about raising taxes.”

Tony Pestorious:

Tony Pestorious

“Taxes and spending are my primary reasons for running. Since 2004, our property tax levy has increased over 33 percent. We simply cannot continue at this rate of increase. In order for this community to thrive, we need to keep and bring businesses and ultimately jobs to the area. It is difficult to attract business with high tax rates.

“As far as how I would propose to make cuts to the budget, I believe we have to work very closely with the department managers, and go line by line through the budget to find areas to cut back. A lot of small adjustments can add up to big savings. I have said that I believe the county commissioners should take a pay cut. This is not because I think it will have a tremendous effect on the nearly $40 million budget. However, I believe it is important to lead by example. I think it will send a message to the departments that no budget area is immune for cut backs, and show that the board is serious about the need for budget reductions.

“I also believe that it is important to use new sources of revenue to reduce debt rather than add new spending. I am specifically referring to the property tax dollars that will come from the Bent Tree Wind Farm and the net profit from the ICE contract. We need to be strategic in evaluating new capital expenditures as I feel it’s important to work at reducing our debt.

“I am aware of the fact that much of the spending by the county is mandated by the state. The state continues to impose more responsibility onto the county, and at the same time provides less funding to do so. However, every business and individual in this community has been forced to make tough decisions in this economy. I believe it’s the responsibility of the county commissioners to do so, as well.”

Marilyn Roche

Marilyn A. Roche:

“I would like to reduce energy costs countywide and intend to help develop a favorable business climate to attract more businesses and more jobs to our area, which, of course, would reduce taxes for all of us. I believe that there may be duplicated tasks that could be shared by the county and the city.  If handled properly, this would be a cost saver for all involved.”

Curtis Smith:

Curtis Smith

“Values have gone down on homes, which is unfortunate. The easiest way to bring the tax base down is to get new homes built and improvements made on existing homes. It’s tough for us to come in and just cut taxes because of state mandates. By bringing new jobs, new families who will want new houses, the right type of jobs, and higher paying jobs is not a simple fix, but something we could do over time. Everybody wants to say lower taxes, but if we lower taxes and lower revenue, we still have to come up with money to pay the bills.

“I would work on the budget. What if we could save $5,000 here and $2,000 there? Over the course of five years, that’s a lot of money. We could put off raising taxes and make our community more viable. Because I haven’t seen the budget, it’s not fair to say where make cuts.”