The public will get a chance to learn about and discuss the third piece of the local tax pie Thursday night.

The Mower County Board is set to hold its annual truth in taxation meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the county board room.

A number of state shifts drove increases for the 2015 Mower County levy. The board approved the maximum increase at 7 percent, which would increase the levy by about $1.2 million to a total of about $18.6 million.

The county’s meeting comes after the Austin Public School District approved a 5.7 percent tax hike Tuesday. The city is discussing an increase of just under 5 percent.

Commissioner Jerry Reinartz has said the finance committee is still working to trim its 2015 budget ahead of the county’s truth in taxation meeting Dec. 11.

“We’re going to do our best to get it down from 7 [percent],” Reinartz said in September.

Last year, increasing ag values meant farmers felt much of the tax changes while residential saw their taxes decrease. With ag land making up about 60 percent of the county levy, County Coordinator Craig Oscarson said farmers could again notice significant changes on their tax statements.

State shifts accounted for much of the increased budget need. Though the state actually increased county program aid from $206 million to $209 million, the formula for distributing that aid means that Mower County will get $323,000 less. Oscarson said several other agriculture-heavy counties, like Freeborn, also saw aid reductions. County program aid is based on ability to pay, and Oscarson said the increases in ag land values in recent years shifted the aid to metro counties.

“It’s as shift,” Oscarson previously told the board. “The problem is there’s winners and losers with that formula.”

The county is hiring for three part-time employees in the jail, Health and Human Services and another in the assessor’s office, and they’ll make up an $40,000 budget changes.

The Mower County Fair Board requested a four season building be built sooner than planned, but county officials say that’s unlikely to be approved. The Mower County Historical Society is also asking for additional funds.