The Austin City Council, Mower County board and Austin Public Schools are set to hold their truth in taxation meetings before setting their final 2017 budget and levies before the end of the year.

Here’s a background on each board and when the annual budget and levy meetings will be held.
City

In September, the Austin City Council officially set its 2017 tax levy at a 9 percent maximum increase.

The council also scheduled its annual truth in taxation meeting to be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the city council chambers of City Hall, 500 Fourth Ave. NE. A 9 percent levy increase could mean an additional $30 to $40 a year for an average home’s taxes.

The council can still lower its 2017 levy, but it cannot increase it over the maximum 9 percent.

Employee costs are a driving factor in the 2017 budget. Director of Administrative Services Tom Dankert said the goal was to keep city services the same in 2017 as in ‘16. That made for the 9 percent increase, which will increase the levy by $441,000 to about $5.3 million.

Much of 2017’s increase — about 7 percent, according to Dankert — is coming from a roughly 3 percent raise for staff.

Dankert noted the city won’t feel the full 9 percent tax increase. Traditionally, new construction and growth accounts for 2 to 3 percent of the annual tax levy increase, so Dankert estimated the net effect of the 9 percent increase would be closer to a 6 or 7 percent.
County

The Mower County board approved its maximum 2017 tax levy at 5.69 percent levy, which would raise the levy to about $20.34 million.

The county board will hold its annual budget meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the basement board room of Mower County Government Center, 201 First St. NE.

In early discussions, the county’s finance committee discussed an increase near 11.2 percent due to staffing requests and changes, so Commissioners Polly Glynn and Tim Gabrielson were pleased the budget is coming in well under their initial projections.

However, County Coordinator Craig Oscarson said it’s unlikely the board could lower the levy significantly or to zero.

The county’s personnel committee was faced with more than 13 positions, four of which were hired already in 2016 and will show up in next year’s budget. The committee recommending the county take on nine new positions, six and a third of which will be paid by property taxes, while the others are paid through non-levy dollars. The new positions make for $374,060 in the budget.

Oscarson said the positions being added are from workload increase and cost shifts resulting from extra workload, some due from state shifts in Health and Human Services.

The county is also adding a full-time metal detector at the Mower County Jail and Justice Center, but it will be doing it with two new employees with a few jailer positions and by relocating a deputy, while the county originally anticipated having to hire three people for the change.

Despite the staffing needs, Oscarson was pleased that he, board members and other staff were able to trim the budget from an original 11.2 percent, had they included all staff requests.

The county also anticipates a $325,000 cost from the implementation of a compensation study, which will result in an adjustment in payroll.

Then the finance committee is recommending the county use $450,000 in Public Works reserves to fund two road projects instead of increasing the levy to cover the local share of two projects.

The finance committee is also recommending the following increases in appropriations to outside groups: $11,000 to the Mower County Historical Society, $5,000 to the Mower County Senior Center and $18,000 to the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The county is set to receive an additional $186,231 in County Program Aid this year.

The county board must approve it’s maximum levy increase in September, but the board can still lower the levy after
School board

Austin Public Schools’ preliminary 2017 levy will be set at a $6.6 million levy, which would be a 1.84 percent decrease from the last year’s $6.77 million levy.

The district’s truth in taxation meeting will be part of its regular 5:30 p.m. Dec. 12 meeting in the council chambers of City Hall. The TNT meeting will occur at 6 p.m. or after.

Director of Finance and Operations Mark Stotts called it one of the first steps in the process for setting the payable 2017 school year levy.

The levy is largely driven by formulas coming from the Minnesota Legislature, and Stotts added the board has little discretion over setting the actual levy.

Though Austin’s levy has stayed even or decreased for about four or five years, Stotts said it’s difficult if not impossible to predict future years’ levies. That’s because the formulas are changed frequently by the state.

Maximum 2017 levies

•City of Austin: $5.3 million, a 9 percent increase

•Austin Public Schools: about $6.6 million, a 1.84 percent decrease

•Mower County: about $20.3 million, a 5.7 percent increase