County board begins planning 2002 budget

With the thermometer hovering around 90 degrees outside the Wright County Courthouse at the Tuesday, July 17, county board meeting, it was hard to fathom that the board was thinking about December – when it could be 100 degrees cooler.
The board was planning ahead with mid to late December in mind, when the county has to accept its final 2002 budget and certified levy. While the final acceptance is almost six months away, the board has plenty of work to do prior to that – namely meet with all department heads to set budgets prior to the Truth in Taxation deadline of Sept. 17 for a draft budget and levy to be completed.
“I’ve put together a rather intense schedule for the budget committee of the whole to follow,” County coordinator Dick Norman said. “The reason is that we’re going to be under a tight schedule in order to get a draft budget done by Sept. 17.”
The timetable begins with Norman’s presentation of a draft budget guideline by Monday, Aug. 6, and then continues with department heads pleading their cases for their own budget requests.
The budget committee will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 7, to discuss the road and bridge and sheriff’s budget, followed by human services Aug. 13, court administration, the assessor and the parks department Aug. 14, court services, the recorder’s office, planning and zoning, surveyor, county attorney and human services Aug. 20, Management Information Systems, extension, civil defense, building care, auditor/treasurer, coordinator, county board and non-departmental budgets Aug. 21 and the Soil and Water Conservation District, fair board, historical society, initiative foundation, economic development partnership and a final road and bridge review on Aug. 22.
“It’s going to be a lot of people coming at us in a hurry,” board chair Ken Jude said.
“But, most of us have been on this board for 10 years now, so we’ve got used to the process and expect that it will go fine. It will be hectic and some hard choices will have to be made, but we’ve had to do that before, too.”
Once the board sets a draft budget and levy Sept. 17, under state Truth in Taxation law neither figure can up after that date. It can, however, be lowered.
In other items on the July 17 agenda, the board:
– Received word that the Department of Natural Resources approved two county parks grant requests – one for $450,000 for Ney Park expansion and another for $30,433 for construction of a playground at Otsego Park.
Parks administrator Mark Mattice said he was very pleased with getting both requests, since only $4 million was available from the DNR in funding for this cycle and there were in excess of $21 million in requests.
– Approved setting a public hearing to allow Wright County to impose a gravel tax effective Jan. 1. The county got approval at the last Legislative session.
The public hearing is set for the Tuesday, Aug. 14, board meeting. Prior to the approval, any gravel taken out of Wright County was taxed by the county it went to, costing Wright County untold thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
– Announced a tentative agreement with Bauerly Bros. Inc. for the company’s encroachment on Stanley Eddy Park from their gravel mining operation.
The list of damages to the land and removal of trees was discussed and, as compensation, the company offered 20 acres of land adjacent to the park as restitution. However, it was noted that this should be an all or nothing proposal, which means if the final deal is not to the county’s satisfaction, it will start over and seek monetary damages.
– Met in closed session to discuss having motions filed requesting a new trial over the recent court loss to Superior Services Inc. While it’s unlikely the motions will be granted, it is pretty standard practice following a defeat in court to file motions for a new trial.
– Referred discussion of adding a deputy sheriff to work as a school liaison office in Monticello Schools to the personnel committee. The matter is addressed in the 2002 budget, but, because the request includes the 2001-2002 school year, it was asked that the committee look at it earlier than January expenditures.
– Authorized Assessor Gerald Kritzeck to bring a proposal for charging for multiple requests about properties to the July 25 ways and means committee. Kritzeck told the board that, while the information is public, requests from businesses have been growing considerably and at times asking for information on 20 properties at a time – taking staff time away from their other duties.
He explained that other counties charge for such a service, such as $2 for a land parcel, $5 for a tax estimate and any from $100-500 for a cost estimate of a commercial building. He added that, when he has offered to have people come in themselves to check the information, some callers have become indignant. The board unanimously approved referring the matter to committee.
– Was informed that the county isn’t responsible for a request from the city of St. Michael to address licenses for peddlers and hawkers. The board had discussed the 80-year old law at a previous meeting, but later discovered that the law had been repealed during the last Legislative session, meaning that cities are responsible for such matters, not counties.
– Heard from the River Country Trail Group about a proposed corridor trail bike path from Clearwater to Monticello following the corridor of County Road 75. The board gave its approval to the concept of the project, which, if approved, would be set for construction in 2006. However, the board noted that no county dollars have been allocated to the project.