Greetings from Le Sueur County

 As we wind down the year, the Board of Commissioners took final actions in adopting a new budget and tax levy for 2026. After much discussion and evaluation, the County Board lowered the preliminary levy from 5.36 percent to a final levy increase of 4.4 percent. This is compared to a 3.9 percent increase in the prior year. The estimated tax statements that were recently mailed represented a proposed increase based on the 5.36 percent increase, so the actual county property tax increase will be a bit lower.

 The final 2026 budget adds around $1.3 million in additional county property tax, for a total county property tax levy of $30,337,063, and a total budget expending $65,301,745. The revenue increases are primarily needed to pay for salary and benefit costs of personnel.

 Looking at the budget from a high level in terms of revenue generation, property taxes fund around 48 percent of the overall budget. Around 37 percent of revenue is received from State/Federal sources, such as Road and Bridge or Health and Human Services funds. The remaining 15 percent of revenue is classified as miscellaneous, and their primary sources would be fees or investment earnings.

 In terms of comparing overall expenditures, 40 percent of the budget goes towards general government operations which encompasses most Departments, 31 percent goes toward roads and bridges, 18 percent to Human Services, 6 percent for debt service, 4 percent for Environmental Services, and 1 percent for miscellaneous.

 When you look at where county property taxes are spent, 67 percent goes towards four major cost centers. First is Sherrif’s Office at 25 percent, followed by 19 percent to Human Services, 13 percent to Highway, and 10 percent to debt service. The remaining 33 percent of the county property tax supports all other county operations.  

 As a reminder, the property values used to calculate 2026 property taxes are based on property sales data from October 2023 through September 2024. Also, property taxes levied by the County only represent a portion of the total property tax, as taxing authorities in townships, cities and schools direct the County on how much to collect for their operations. Correspondingly, property taxes can range dramatically depending upon what jurisdiction the property is located.

 For example, as a percentage of the total property tax bill for a $400,000 property within a city limits, city percentages range from 10 to 50 percent of the total bill, while school percentages range from 21 to 49 percent, with the County percentage range from 28 to 41 percent.

A change property owners will see on 2026 property tax statements is the removal of the library special taxing district line item, as this amount is now included in the overall county tax levy. Funding for county libraries was held flat at $841,520.

 No major property tax burden shifts are projected in 2026, with residential up slightly and still leading the way and paying 58.8 percent share of total tax burden, followed by agricultural at 29 percent, commercial/industrial at 7.9 percent, utilities and railroads at 3.1 percent, and apartments at 1.1 percent.

 If you would like to learn more about the budget, you can visit the County website and find materials posted from the December 2 Board meeting agenda.