The Mower County Historical Society and the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District could be at risk. Both asked for the same level of funding as last year, but Oscarson said the board will have to look into whether they’ll be able to maintain the same funding levels.

According to Executive Director Dustin Heckman, potential cuts are nothing new for the historical society, which received about $37,500 in general funding last year.

“Every year, I think it’s on our radar because we never know when our funding could be reduced or cut all together,” said Heckman.

Heckman said there can be a lot of waiting to see what will happen. Should their funding be decreased, Heckman said they could raise their membership rates.

However, he noted there aren’t many other areas left to cut. In the past few years, Heckman said he’s reworked service contracts like waste removal to save money.

The SWCD received about $150,000 in funding last year, according to Oscarson. The board could also decrease the $246,180 funding to Southeastern Libraries Cooperation, the cooperation in which the Austin Public Library is a part.

The county could also look at staffing cuts or at cuts in services like snow plowing and sheriff’s patrolling.

However, Oscarson noted many of the county offices are already under-staffed. For example, the county attorney’s office is short about two employees compared to other counties, Oscarson said.

Likewise, human services is under-staffed by at least two people, and Oscarson said human services has one of the highest case loads in the state.

“To cut more is almost impossible in some areas,” Oscarson said. “But in other areas, yeah we could cut. But it’s not going to mean we’re going to do more with less. We’re going to do less with less.”

Should the public show that they want cuts, then the board could keep the levy increase at zero but cuts would follow.