The Ways & Means Committee met on Monday evening with the committee moving to make additional cuts to the 2021 tax levy. The levy had previously been cut to 5 percent after the preliminary levy was set at 6 percent in September.
Each percentage point in the city’s tax levy is equal to approximately $22,000. Councilman Jake Fee proposed taking out the $25,000 request from the Crookston Chamber for marketing to lower levy to around 4 percent before officially motioning to remove $22,000 from the budget. “We were able to get it down to 4 percent, which is good,” said Fee. “A lot of people in town recently found out that the residential valuations for the county went up about 10 percent. Even though at 5 percent, it wasn’t going to impact a $150,000 home, but their value increased, so they are paying more in taxes. We kind of went to work and took $22,000 out of Council approved budget items to get it down to 4 percent. Hopefully, that will be enough to offset a little bit of the increases to people’s properties.”
With the cut, there is approximately $8,000 in the City Council budget that is currently unassigned. That money could also be cut before the final levy is set or kept if an unforeseen project arises during the 2021 fiscal year. Currently, the budget for 2021 doesn’t include funds from reserves, which the city has used several consecutive years to limit the levy increase for taxpayers. Councilman Dylane Klatt said, preserving the reserves and saving taxpayers money benefits everyone. “I think that’s a great thing if we can save our taxpayers some money,” said Klatt. “And without taking out of reserves, I think that is a win-win situation for us.”
The committee also voted to forward the appoint former City Councilman and County Commissioner Craig Buness to the Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) Board onto the next City Council meeting agenda to fill the unexpired term of Craig Morgan, who resigned in October. Buness will complete the term that expires in December 2021. The vote was 8-1 in favor of forwarding Buness’ appointment, with Klatt voting against. Klatt said he wanted to be able to interview appointees to commissions and boards before their appointment. “From what I hear, the guy is a great individual,” said Klatt. “I’d just like to have the opportunity to visit with somebody and ask them some questions. I think some of these appointments might be a little hastily done. Maybe we can do some research sometimes. I sure after I meet the gentleman, he’s a great guy like everyone is saying.”
Mayor Dale Stainbrook said he believed Buness would be a great fit for the CHEDA Board. “Craig Morgan decided to step down from the CHEDA Board, and he’d been there for many years,” said Stainbrook. “He thought things through and had a lot of knowledge. I think Craig Buness is going to be a great fit for it. He asks tough questions and has been a City Council member at one time and also a County Commissioner. Even though he’s not involved with any city or county government, he sure seems to know what’s going on around the city and the county. I’m glad he’s on the CHEDA Board.”
The committee also approved the City of Crookston agreement with Crookston Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) and the CVB board construction. “It’s good to have everything moving in the right direction,” said Stainbrook. “They spent a lot of time on it. There will probably be a little tweaking with it down the road as far as how they distribute grant dollars. We have two Council members on it now. I think they’ll do a fantastic job. They’ll finish out the year, and we’ll see what happens with Council appointments next year.“
The committee also accepted the five-year capital plan prepared by department heads and approved a capital purchase of a new furnace/AC unit and water pumps for the Crookston Police Station. The furnace/AC unit was last replaced in approximately 1993 when the Police Department moved into the building. The water pumps being replaced are believed to be original to the building built in the 1950s.
