The Crookston Ways and Means Committee met on Monday and continued discussions on Houston Avenue erosion and the review of the preliminary 2027 budget.
The discussion on how to move forward with the erosion issues affecting eight properties on Houston Avenue was brought back forward following discussions at the June 15 Ways and Means Committee meeting. During that meeting, City Councilmember Dylane Klatt asked Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler to provide the tax burden on Crookston residents for the two proposed funding sources for the erosion remediation project. Selzler provided the figures to the committee for the state bond plan, which would require a 50 percent match from the city, and for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which would require a 25 percent match from the city.
Selzler reported that if the City were to pay for the project in a one-year timeframe with a $2 million buyout of the eight properties, the cost to residential property owners would be around $714, and commercial property owners at around $474, up to $2,919. With the state bond and the 50 percent match, the numbers lower to $280 for residential property owners and $186 to $1,142 for commercial property owners. For the BRIC Grant, the numbers are lower, at $192 for residential owners and $128-787 for commercial owners.
Klatt thanked Selzler for providing those numbers and noted that whichever funding source the City chooses would set a precedent for future remediation in other areas along the riverbank. City Councilmember Morgan Hibma suggested that the City wait until the budget is finalized this fall before making any decisions. The committee decided to allow the City to continue exploring funding options and table the discussion to a future Ways and Means Committee meeting. Selzler appreciated the feedback from the committee and wants to ensure the City can help these residents while maintaining fiscal responsibility to the tax base. “It was a good conversation,” said Selzler. “Again, we presented multiple different scenarios for the council, and I think the consensus of that was to kind of just hold off a little bit until we see the entire preliminary budget, what the numbers look like, and then maybe revisit that and see how we can help out or how we can move forward with that project, whether we can or not.”
The final discussion topic was the third review session regarding the preliminary 2027 budget. The budget sections scheduled for review were the city administrator, police, and fire, but because the fire department was assisting with a field fire on Monday, the fire department budget review was moved to a future meeting. Deputy Police Chief Nate Nelson brought the police budget before the committee, which includes $373,012 in revenues and $3,463,251 in expenses. Most expense categories remained similar to the FY2026 budget, but there were capital improvement projects that included a request for a new squad car at $100,000 and other equipment costs, including replacements for police vests. Klatt and Hibma both had questions and concerns about the amount of overtime the department budgeted for, with Hibma asking for a detailed breakdown of how overtime is allocated. Nelson told the committee that the department does its best to ensure overtime stays to a minimum, but does receive reimbursements in areas like county and state transports, which helps offset some of the costs for the department.
Selzler appreciated Nelson stepping up to provide this year’s budget update, allowing Selzler to focus on his role as interim city administrator for the evening while he continues to serve as chief of police. Based on the conversations surrounding the expenditures of the budget, mainly overtime, the committee can revisit the budget and see how costs could be lowered. “I appreciate Nate taking the lead on that this year,” said Selzler. “It’s just nice to have that separation of duties between the police chief and the deputy chief moving that forward. But like any budget items, we’re going to scrutinize them and see what we can do to reduce costs. We do that every time we audit and analyze each line item. But that’s another one. The police department has a large budget. They have a large staff, and overtime is expensive. And again, we’ll reevaluate that and see if we can’t reduce those costs.”
Selzler also went over the city administrator’s budget, which had been moved to the agenda after Selzler’s absence from the July 6 meeting. The FY2027 preliminary expenditures are $815,372, which is an increase from $745,215 in the FY2026 budget. Selzler explained that most of the increase comes from a position reallocation and from waiting for final insurance numbers.
The committee revisited the discussion on the budgeted amount for special donations and grants in the city council section of the budget. The amount was set at $0 during the last meeting to allow the committee time to decide whether to keep it at $0 or maintain the $113,000 from the FY2026 budget. The decision was made to set the amount at $100,000 and revisit that number as organizations submit their proposals to the committee this fall.
The next Ways and Means Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 3, immediately following the City Council meeting in the council chambers at City Hall.
