The Polk County Commissioners met on Tuesday at the Polk County Government Center, setting the 2020 final levy at 3.269%, down .081% from the public meeting two weeks ago. The 2020 budget was also approved for $67,845,737, with 35.8% or $24,236,651 coming from the tax levy.
Several items led to the budget increase, including an additional $100 per employee per month for the cafeteria benefits package. That, along with several other items, including a bond for highway projects, wage increases, and a new position, highlights some of the increased costs, according to Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting. “The levy increases over ’19 is a 3.269%,” said Whiting. “The overall levy is almost $24,300,000. The added cost in the budget for next year is a lot of highway work for a bond we sold in 2019. We’re looking at selling a bond to do some capital improvements in 2020, mostly at our building in East Grand Forks that houses Social Services and Public Health. It’s about $3 million. We have a wage increase based on our grid of about 2.5% for employees. Otherwise, new positions, there is only a couple– one is granted funded in Public Health, and we’re short a custodian position, so we budgeted for that. We’re leasing new vehicles from Enterprise now on a state contract. And we find some advantages to that from a budget standpoint. I’m kind of glad it’s done, and I can start trying to enjoy the holidays here for a while.”
The county’s annual revenues include the tax levy, intergovernmental transfers, and fees explained Whiting. “Generally, the levy is around 35-40 percent of our overall revenues,” said Whiting. “A lot of other revenues come in through what we call intergovernmental transfers, especially in Social Services, Highway, but we also collect a lot of fees. A lot of what the county does isn’t on the levy at all. Solid Waste is paid for by garbage fees and things like that. So, not everything is on the levy, but the levy is what pinches taxpayers the most. So, that’s what we pay the most attention too.”
As part of the 2020 budget, the commissioners approved a $3.1 million Capital Improvement Bond for remodeling the Human Services Building in East Grand Forks, making improvements to the Government Center, and new roofing for the Highway Building both in Crookston. With the budget, including the bond approved, the commissioners also approved sending out a request for bids on the remodeling in East Grand Forks, estimated at nearly around $2.4 million, which Whiting said hopefully will be awarded by the end of January. “We got approval to have the architect seek proposals,” said Whiting. “Hopefully, by the end of January, we’ll know what we’ve got and who we might be working with.”
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