Commissioners Pledge to Bring Preliminary Levy—Increase of of 19.88%—down into single digits
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Wadena County Commissioners held their regular meeting on Tuesday, September 15.
Preliminary Levy
The preliminary levy was set at $14,399,896—a 19.88% increase.
Auditor-Treasurer Heather Olson made it clear they do not intend to keep the final levy that high. Olson told the board the first draft of the budget showed an increase of about 27 percent before staff and department heads trimmed roughly eight points through adjustments to revenues and spending.
Commissioners expressed concern about the impact on taxpayers, citing rising wage costs under existing labor contracts, state mandates, and several large non-wage and capital requests as key budget drivers.
Olson said wages remain the county’s single largest expense but noted there are also significant non-mandated, big-ticket items that could potentially be delayed a year to ease the burden.
The board directed her to prepare an itemized list of major non-wage and non-mandated increases for further review, and several commissioners stressed they supported the preliminary number only as a legal ceiling, pledging to bring the levy down into the single digits before final adoption in December...
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