The Crookston City Council and Crookston Ways and Means committee met on Monday in the council chambers at City Hall.
WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
Following the city council meeting, the Ways and Means Committee met to discuss the city’s preliminary levy for the 2027 fiscal year. Selzler started the conversation by outlining the changes made to capital improvement projects (CIP) following the September 16 Ways and Means special meeting. Selzler told the council that some additions were made, including an extra $10,000 for HVAC maintenance at city hall, $10,000 for additional storage servers for the IT department, and an increase in the parks and recreation vehicle fund from $10,000 to $15,000 for vehicle leases up to 4 years. Some CIP figures were either reduced or removed, including the telehandler and South Minnesota/Strander road improvements. With these changes, the CIP total toward the levy was reduced to $963,250, and the CIPs using non-levy funds are $1,807,000.
Finance Director Jon Roscoe told the council that, factoring in the departments that the levy is allocated to, including the general fund, library, and parks and recreation, the preliminary levy would be $5,385,000, or an 11.1 percent increase. The levy would increase property taxes on a $250,000 property by around $80 for the year; a $100,000 commercial property would have a $53 increase; and a $500,000 commercial property would have a $325 increase. Selzler reminded the council that the preliminary levy would be the highest amount they could levy for 2027, but the city will have two months to try to lower that levy amount before the public hearing in December. “A lot of work has gone into it to get to this point, and we all feel comfortable at 11%,” said Selzler. “Our direction is to go back and revisit those capital improvements, see where the reductions can be made, and bring those back to council for review, so it’s definitely a good starting point. Obviously, we’re going to work to reduce that, like we do every year, which is very possible and very feasible.”
Council member Dylane Klatt suggested lowering the preliminary levy to 10 percent, but Roscoe and Selzler would need to find areas to cut before the September 30 deadline to set a preliminary levy. The council agreed to round the preliminary levy percentage down to 11 percent with the knowledge that the levy numbers should be lower as discussions continue.
MIDCONTINENT COMMUNICATIONS AGREEMENT AMENDMENT
The council discussed a resolution approving an amendment to the Midcontinent Communications (Midco) Franchise Agreement. The agreement pertains to the city’s cable communications franchise with Midco, which was set to expire on October 16. The amended agreement provides for an additional five-year franchise term, with an automatic renewal of up to five years unless notice of non-renewal is provided at least six months in advance of expiration. The other amendments include removing Section 2, Paragraph 9 in its entirety, which had previously provided free cable service to entities like the Crookston Sports Center, Golden Link, and the police and fire departments that the city would now have to pay for. The other amendment was to Section 2, Paragraph 10©, which updates the city’s Channel 3 TV feed, which is mostly used for city meetings, to high definition. Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler thanked IT Director Joel Pyles for working on this amended agreement, which allows the city to continue its long-standing cable partnership with Midco and provide a better viewing experience for those who watch events on Channel 3. “It’s just outdated language where there was service provided to several entities throughout the city of Crookston at that time, free of charge,” Selzler explained. “Now the city would have to pay for those services, so again that would remove those services and it would add a service of providing HD to our Channel Three for you production reasons and display of council meetings. So hopefully that would improve by doing that.”
MATCO TOOL PURCHASE
The second agenda item was a resolution authorizing the purchase of a MATCO Tools Maximus 5.0 diagnostic scan tool for $11,549.95. The Crookston Central Garage Department informed the city that its current diagnostic scanning tool, the MATCO Maximus 3.0, is nearing the end of its service life and will no longer be eligible to receive necessary software and vehicle coverage updates at the end of the year. Public Works Director Chuck Getsman told the council that the recommendation was made to purchase the MATCO Maximus 5.0 scanning tool, which will allow the department to provide diagnostic capabilities for passenger and heavy-duty vehicles and equipment. “This is a piece of equipment that our mechanic relies heavily on,” said Getsman. “Not only do you just plug it in, and it gives you basic diagnostics. It also comes with files. You can literally pull an entire manual on the car through this handheld device, as well as the electrical specs and everything like that. So it helps our mechanic quickly diagnose the issue, trace wires, and figure out what needs to be correct in order to get the equipment back out on the road in a timely manner,”
The funds for the new equipment would come from reserves in the General Garage Fund 701, and the scanner will work on all city-owned vehicles and heavy-duty equipment. The council unanimously approved the resolution.
The council will set the preliminary levy during a special city council meeting on Monday, September 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. The next regular city council meeting will be held on Monday, October 5, at 5:30 p.m.
