County taxes will rise next year.

Friday, September 10, 1999

County taxes will rise next year.

Freeborn County commissioners approved a projected tax levy increase Thursday to help cover an expected $25 million budget.

&uot;It’s a .4 percent increase, not quite a half percent from last year,&uot; Finance Manager Bill Helfritz told commissioners of the $7.35 million levy.

Still, he noted the recent approval doesn’t lock any of the numbers in.

&uot;You can increase this budget,&uot; he told commissioners. &uot;You can reduce this budget. You can do anything.&uot;

The one thing the commissioners won’t be able to do before approving a final budget at the end of the year is increase the levy, which is already approximately $250,000 above state-mandated levy limits.

Helfritz said the county is able to increase the levy from the $7.1 limit for certain expenses.

While final approval is needed, he noted the state is expected to OK going over the limit for certain reasons. In Freeborn County’s case that’s spending for bonding on the Armory and the Department of Human Services building and new state-mandated expenses for the jail.

While the county levy is over the limit, Helfritz noted the increase isn’t much beyond the $7.33 million levy of last year.

&uot;The levy limit is less than last year’s levy,&uot; he said.

Helping to keep the county’s levy down this year is a $200,734 state aid increase.

&uot;That’s one reason the levy limits were reduced,&uot; noted County Administrator Gene Smith, noting the county would have been in trouble if state aid hadn’t risen and the levy limit remained low.

Even with the .4 percent levy increase, the projected budget spends $1.2 million more than is expected to be taken in during 2000.

&uot;If we take in all the revenue proposed and spend all expenditures proposed, it would result in a 4.9 percent decrease in fund balances,&uot; Helfritz noted.

All funds, except the capitol improvements fund, are expected to decrease in the next year. The largest drop under the proposed budget would be seen in the general revenue fund with a $550,000 decrease.

Overall, county spending is expected to increase by $550,000 under the projected 2000 budget, with the largest increase, $570,000, again seen in the general revenue fund.

A decrease in spending is expected in both the human services and capitol improvements budgets. Human services spending is projected to drop nearly $70,000, while improvement spending is estimated to decline $53,000.

At the same time, human services is expected to see a drop in revenues next year by $76,000.

Helfritz noted that all the figures, except the final levy amount, are likely to change. The projected budget is merely required as part of the ongoing budgeting process.