Greetings from Le Sueur County
During the month of September, the Board of Commissioners worked on finalizing the preliminary budget and levy which culminated in adopting a 6.8 percent preliminary levy increase. This percentage represents around $1.8 million in increased expenditures compared to the prior year, for a total tax levy of around $29 million, and a total budget of around $55 million. The $29 million amount will be used to generate the estimated tax statements that property owners will receive in November.
The final budget and levy will be adopted on December 3. Between now and then, the County Board plans to further investigate strategic use of cash reserves for identified one-time expenditures in the proposed budget that account for nearly $1 million of the $1.8 million increase, or to defer certain projects for later years. Currently, the County’s cash reserves are relatively healthy, but we still need to finalize flood recovery costs, evaluate the costs of new bargaining unit contracts, along with identifying any other unbudgeted costs in the coming months, before final decisions can be made about drawing down reserves.
In other Board news, the Board approved authorizing tax relief for those property owners impacted by flooding. The Assessor’s Office has identified around 200 properties that have sustained around $10 million in value loss. Many of these property owners will be eligible for some reimbursement of their second half property tax payment or a tax credit. Any abatement payments issued by the County back to these property owners will be reimbursed to the County by the State of Minnesota. The Assessor’s Office is busy reaching out to impacted property owners eligible for this relief.
The County Board also awarded a contract with Bolton and Menk to begin the work of updating our comprehensive land use plan, which has not been updated in 17 years. Comprehensive land use plans are guiding documents that help local governments plan for their communities' future growth and development. These plans are used as guideposts in developing ordinance revisions that help regulate land use, achieve community goals, and guide investments in development.
The Board felt that considering the changes that have occurred in the County since 2007, it would be appropriate to engage our community and see what future growth and investments should look like. If you are interested in being heard and providing feedback on the future of Le Sueur County, please become engaged in the process that will occur over the next 12 months.
In broadband related news, the County has been planning on how to best invest a $1 million federal grant award to expand broadband internet services. In this process, the County awarded a contract to Finley Engineering who is developing plans to serve the most locations with the award. The area that we have identified to make this investment is portions of rural Montgomery and Kilkenny townships. The internet service provider we tentatively plan to partner with is BevComm. Timelines for construction and implementation are still under development.