Meeker County Board last week approved a preliminary levy and budget for 2023 that shows a 3% increase from the current budget year.
The preliminary levy of $16,220,310 supports a budget of nearly $49 million.
Final approval of the levy and budget is set for Dec. 8. That more-than-two-month period between preliminary and final levy and budget, along with some uncertainty in expenses, left one commissioner wondering if the board was making a mistake.
“I know this is beating a dead horse,” said Commissioner Paul Johnson, who represents District 3. “I don’t know if I will support this motion. We’ve got a lot of balls in the air right now. I just would have given ourselves a cushion on that levy.”
Johnson said he didn’t like the preliminary budget showing revenue from reserves being used to cover increased spending in 2023, at least not at the level indicated. Instead, he said, the board should consider a larger increase in the preliminary level. It would, in a sense, buy some time so the board and administration could have a clearer picture of the county’s financial picture before final approval in December.
State law allows local governments to decrease preliminary levies and budgets before final approval, but they cannot increase them once they’ve been approved.
Johnson said he preferred the strategy followed by the county last year, when the board approved a preliminary levy that showed a 2.5% increase. By the time the final budget and levy were approved in December 2021, the levy increase had fallen to 1.5%.
“I still would like to see 3%, but we have ’til December to bring it to that,” Johnson said. “Right now, we’re saying we’re stuck at 3 (percent), this is where we’re going to be. We can’t go up. That’s my only concern.
“I like to have room,” he continued. “If the sky doesn’t fall in, we’re great. Perfect. We’ll go 3 (percent) in December, it’s over.”
Johnson’s fellow board members did not have the same reservations, as the preliminary levy and budget were approved on a 3-1 vote with Johnson dissenting. Board member Beth Oberg was absent.
In a memo to the board, County Administrator Andrew Letson said the $48,869,440 in expenditures in the 2023 budget represents a 31.54% increase over 2022. Most of the increase in due to one-time expenses and a change in the operating agreement at the demolition landfill/transfer station, Letson said, with capital expenditures rising to $14,919,535 in 2023 as compared to about $6.5 million this year.
The county’s facility remodel project, with a budget of $12.15 million, represents the largest portion of the increase in capital spending. The facility remodel expenses are split over three years, with $5.8 million included in the 2023 annual budget.
The 2023 budget calls for using $8,916,378 of fund balance, about $4.2 million of which comes from the General Revenue Fund.
Also included in the 2023 revenue is about $4.5 million allocated to the county through the American Rescue Plan. A ruling by the U.S. Treasury Department allows the county to use the funds for any governmental purposes, and the County Board, during a July work session, directed administration to use the funds in a variety of areas, including the facility remodel project.
The County Board set the annual Truth in Taxation hearing for 6 p.m. Dec. 1, which will be followed on Dec. 8 by its vote on the final budget and levy.
