The most Mower County’s property tax levy will rise for 2018 is 6.758 percent, the County Board unanimously voted Tuesday morning.

“Hopefully by December we can get that down even more,” Commissioner Polly Glynn said.

Glynn, along with commissioner Jerry Reinhartz and county staff members, have been reviewing department budget proposals and outside agency requests since August. In that process, they identified errors but did not make cuts to the department proposals.

The board was required by state law to adopt a preliminary property tax levy this year by Oct. 2 and its final levy rate by Dec. 28. The board can reduce the levy after Oct. 2, but can’t increase it.

Last year, the county’s preliminary levy increase was set at 5.7 percent, but the final levy increase was 3.1 percent, Reinhartz said.

Local governments are required to set preliminary levies that are put into a Truth in Taxation notices mailed to taxpayers ahead of December budget hearings. Taxpayers are asked to advise board members on the budget — what they support or want removed — at the Truth in Taxation hearings, Oscarson said.

Between now and then,
the county will review whether some costs need to be shifted to fees paid for county services.

“We’ll look at fees to see what benefits individuals and should not be paid for by the taxpayers,” Reinhartz said.

The board will also review requests from outside agencies, such as the Mower County Historical Society.  Those are built into the preliminary budget.

The preliminary budget includes $56,325,190 in expenses. The preliminary revenue includes $21,194,869 from the property tax levy, $27,906,869 from non-tax levy revenue, $5,247,364 in assigned and restricted use funding, $194,713 from budgeted changes to required reserves and $2,170,801 in county program aid.