Preliminary 2002 budget may go as high as 10 percent over 2001

Posted 4/25/01

Preliminary 2002 budget may go as high as 10 percent over 2001

By Danielle Strenke

Although the budget committee has just begun to meet, the Chisago County Board discussed a general overview of the budget for 2002 at its meeting Wednesday, April 18 and may be looking at an increase that could possibly go as high as 10 percent.

County Administrator Jim Thoreen presented an outlook on the 2002 budget that details where the majority of expenditures for next year will be focused. ìThe three funds that are the largest, which we continue to come back to you with are revenue, highway, and health and human services,î Thoreen said.

He said the current balance in the road and bridge account is showing a negative balance of $500,000. The board had authorized a temporary transfer from the revenue fund to the highway fund.

ìHow can we get in the negative, does that mean the county has written checks from an account with a negative balance?î Commissioner Ben Montzka asked.

This is a temporary shift of funds, Thoreen explained, as the county awaits receiving state aid and other dollars on already completed projects.
ìThe negative balance means there are bills left to be paid on accounts that are coming due,î Thoreen said.

ìIf we were going to collect our taxes all at the beginning of the year, that would solve a lot of our problems,î Commissioner Bob Gustafson said.

Commissioner Montzka was still not satisfied that they should allow the fund balance to be in the red. ìWould you stop a road project midstream if the federal or state funds hadnít come in, or would you transfer funds from another account to get the project done?î Commissioner Tom Delaney asked.

Montzka told him he would like to look at what road construction projects are being looked at for the next budget, and if they are over the $1 million budget for roads, they would have to be delayed.

ìI want to point out this was a temporary transfer,î Thoreen said. ìThis overview was intended to point out yellow flags, not saying there is a problem now, but we need to look at what these projections will mean for the future.î

The board also heard that the reserves for health and human services are dwindling, in large part to the increasing cost of out-of-home placement services. The cost of providing health care to county employees is also estimated to hit the budget, with a projected increase of almost 10 percent.

Commissioner Delaney, who serves on the budget committee, said the overview was given to get preliminary input from the rest of the board, as the committee starts to meet on the 2002 budget.

ìThe question is what kind of budgeting target are you willing to give to the budget committee,î he said. ìWe have some major needs out there, roads, health and human services, but we also have a responsibility to the homeowner on how much we will raise their taxes,î he said.

The budget for 2001 increased by 7.9 percent. Most of the board conceded that the budget for 2002 would increase by at least that much, and possibly as much as ten percent.

ìMy feeling is we have to look at somewhere between seven and ten percent overall, right across the board,î Commission Bob Vande Kamp said.

ìIf the fund balances are going down, I say we may have to raise those taxes a little. There are some people who would rather pay a little more and get those services,î Commissioner Mike Robinson said.

Delaney said an increase of roughly five percent over last yearís budget would already be coming in as revenue through the increased growth in the county.

Montzka was the only commissioner hesitant to discuss any budget increase at all. ìI would like you to start with a zero increase, and go from there,î he said. ìThen I would like the staff to convince the committee of the need for any budget increases after that,î he said.

ìYou can say to come in with the exact same levy as last year ñ and we can do that ñ but I donít think youíre going to like the consequences when we do that,î Thoreen said.

County treasurer Lee Olson suggested instructing the committee to come up with two different budget proposals at varying increases.
ìIíd like to look somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight percent and go from there,î Delaney said.