The Polk County Board of Commissioners met inside the Polk County Government Center on Tuesday morning to hear some of the county’s departments’ reviews of their budgets for the 2023 preliminary budget.
COUNTY HIGHWAY ENGINEER-RICHARD SANDERS
The board was first approached by County Engineer Richard Sanders, who gave a review of the department’s budget for 2023. Sanders was joined by County Finance Director Ron Denison and noted that there weren’t any significant raises in the budget now but that there could be some increases before the end of the year.
Sanders began by discussing the Noxious Weeds department, saying they would have to use some expenses for having some samplers come in from multiple counties to help sample the weeds they found growing in the lakes for about $7,700. For the Highway Department, Sanders reported that some of the new additions they had made over the year, and while some salaries were going to drop a bit, the benefits would rise. They would also save them $15,000 by saving on Office Machines as they didn’t need to purchase more this year as they had purchased many of their machines in 2022. For their Road & Bridge Departments, Sanders said they were still paying $75,000 for the gravel tax but noted that there might be an increase in licenses and permits as they were giving out so many of them. For the Public Works Fund, Sanders said they had received about $800,000 for Town Road Allotment from 2022 and gained $400,000 from within the county for fuel prices and would earn a net revenue of $1,599,000. He also noted that their rental rate was doubling to $160,000 and said that there were three contracts that could help them receive $700,000. Sanders then went into the Construction department, reporting it had many of its accounts stay the same with them planning to spend CSAH funds on some one-time Highway and County Road Contracts for roads between MacIntosh, Fosston, and Gully, with each of them increasing from 2022 by about $1.2 million. Although he mentioned that more County Road projects might need to be reconstructed in the future, they would put funds back into the line item when they happen. For their Equipment Maintenance & Shops, they had raised the Overtime pay by about $800, and fuel costs had gone up by another $100,000 but had mostly kept their costs the same. Their final total for their preliminary budget was $4,326,707, which was a $1,714,087 (6.56%) increase from the 2022 budget at $2,612,620, though Sanders noted that this did not include the ARPA funds for any projects.
Sanders explained that he felt all of these items were things the department needed to have funded for the year and hoped that the board wouldn’t cut or delay any of their projects but believed that may happen with the rising costs of construction items. “Based on how construction costs continue to increase, at the beginning of 2023, based on the dollars we’re seeing, we may have to cut some projects and delay them until 2024. Our typical five-year construction plan is now realistically a seven-year plan, and today I brought in a reconstruction of our County Road 46 project from Trunk Highway 102 up to Trunk Highway 2, a grading project we’ve had the plans on the shelf for, which came in $700,000 higher than estimated,” Sanders explained. “So the costs of materials, supplying those materials, and labor has increased, and now we know that things are going to be more expensive and we’re not going to have the ability to do as many projects as we have in the past.”
Sanders reported that they would have another public hearing for the department soon and would make some more decisions for when other contracts or projects emerge.
VETERANS SERVICES OFFICER-KURT ELLEFSON
The board was then approached by the Director of the Veterans Services Office, Kurt Ellefson, on a review of his department’s budget for 2023. Ellefson noted that they were not asking for much more than they did in 2022, as they had received $10,000 thanks to their annual state grant. However, their membership dues had gone up to $600, and they needed another $500 for Misc. Supplies. He finished his review by reporting that the department’s budget had increased by $541 from 2022 to $185,359 (about a 9% increase from 2022).
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DIRECTOR-JON STEINER
Environmental Services Director Jon Steiner then approached the board on a review of the department’s budget for 2023.
Steiner first went into the Zoning Department, noting a big drop in their request for funds for Services $177,000 to $37,000 as the ARP funds helped them cover a lot of their services. For the Solid Waste Planning Department, he noted that there had been a 33% increase in all of their departments due to inflation on construction equipment. For the Environmental Services Department, they requested a $1,500 increase in registration fees, and nearly $7,000 for natural gas, as the price for it had increased from 2022. Their hauling charges were also set to increase to $54,000 for 2023 as they would have two new hauling agreements going into effect over the next two years. The Transfer Station for Environmental Services also saw increases on multiple fronts, such as their hauling charges, their Machinery & Equipment, Ground Improvements, and the addition of a new roll-off container. Steiner then went into the Resource Recovery Facility, saying they would save $3,000 for Miscellaneous items but would cost $55,000 for their Steam Sales and Special Burns Fees to transfer their materials. They also requested $105,099 to add to their Overtime Pay. For the Recycle Fund, Steiner requested $1,500 to help with their advertising and about $20,000 for their Cafeteria Rental Plan. Steiner then passed out a chart of the costs of the materials they recycled, showing how their prices rapidly fluctuated in a span of a few months. Such as aluminum currently costing $1,500 per ton, dropping $1,000 from its sales price in June, while PET plastic costs $105 per ton, dropping $690 from June. Steiner then began reviewing the Landfill, noting that the Hauling Charges for the Landfill did increase by $20,000 due to the amount of snow and the extremely wet spring with them moving sand and other water-blocking materials around the county, mainly in Crookston. However, they were saving $881,000 with them not having Transfers Out. He then went into the Demolition Landfill, where their Fees for Tipping had risen to $315,250, and their fuel costs were now double what they were in 2022 at $60,000. The final totals for the entire department were at $14,744,400 with expenditures of $15,130,521, leaving them with a net of $-386,121.
Steiner reported that he was satisfied with what he had brought forward to the county as many of the departments didn’t affect the levy though there would be some tweaks he would make on the budget before the final levy in December. “The way we approach the budget, expect for Planning & Zoning, all of the other budgets that we deal with in Environmental Services and Solid Waste run off of Tip Fees and Revenue and Steam Sales. So, they don’t reflect on the county’s levy at all, so it gets a little more latitude with that,” Steiner explained. “We’ll stick with what we have. There will be some minor tweaks like a couple of projects we had planned for this year won’t happen this year, we’ll have to carry the money forward and do the project next year and be a bigger project, so we’ll through that expenditure from this year into next year, but we will with the revenues too. So, it should be the same end product.”
INTERIM FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR-RICHARD LANGLOIS
Interim Facilities Management Director Richard Langlois then approached the board on a review of his department’s budget for 2023.
He started with the General Revenue of the Government Center, saying they needed $72,000 for Building Improvements and $40,000 for Ground Improvements for the construction they did along the West side of the building. When water leaked through the wall and the wells they added. Plus another $5,000 for the new office desk that was damaged from the water. He also reported that there was a breaker that needed to be upgraded and repaired and was going to add another $15,000 to make those upgrades. Other repairs to the building he wished to make were to the sidewalk to prevent tripping hazards and other dangers to pedestrians and visitors. He noted, however, that they requested about $65,000 for the sale of bonds and another $12,000 for installing a flagpole outside the Center. He then went into the Transfer Station where Electricity and their Heating Fuel would need about $44,000 to cover the corrections and repairs needed on them. And other Machinery & Equipment repairs would require about $1,067,000 and another $9,000 to install a Heat Control Actuator. His final totals was a revenue of $2,386,447 and expenditures of $7,361,431 with a final net of $4,974,984, which was a vast difference from its requests in 2022, which only had a net of $1,147,334.
ADMINISTRATION-CHUCK WHITING
The board finished the meeting with County Administrator Chuck Whiting on a review of the administration’s budget for 2023.
“These budgets are generally straightforward. The Commissioner’s budget is how active they want to be in traveling to the Association of Minnesota County Conferences and so forth,” Whiting explained. “The standard practice has always been just the wages for the Commissioners, and the cost-of-living adjustments for employees, which was an increase of 3.21%.” Whiting began with the Commissioners’ budget, saying there were a few accounts that would take more money than 2022, such as Mileage being increased to $8,500 and Insurance to $40,820. He noted that the board had slightly increased their total from 2022 to $315,158 to about $326,720. For his own budget as the County Administrator, Whiting had saved $1,000 on milage and on his membership and registration fees from some conferences and other events his contract allowed him to attend, but he didn’t go this year to discuss things with the budgets. He also said they were saying that they were saving a good amount of funds as they did not hire a Deputy County Administrator. He then went into the appropriations from other organizations, such as the Polk County Fair, Red River Basin Association, and Valley Development, but noted that their requests hadn’t changed from when they made them. He found that the total for the Administration revenue was about 1,025 and $924,482 net $923,457.
Whiting also expressed his satisfaction with the budgets he had heard up to that point and would make further decisions about the budget when he heard from the rest of the departments on their budgets.
Stay tuned to KROX and kroxam.com for more news about the department budgets and the county’s preliminary budget.
