Monday, December 27, 2010

County board reduces 2011 property tax levy

County board reduces 2011 property tax levy

County board reduces 2011 property tax levy

Posted: 27 Dec 2010 12:01 PM PST

By Amanda Schwarze

Staff Writer

Carver County officials were able to reduce the 2011 property tax levy by more than 1 percent from the 2010 levy.

The Carver County Board of Commissioners set the 2011 levy at $46,179,720, which is a 1.3 percent decrease from the 2010 levy. The commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the levy and 2011 budget; Commissioner Tom Workman (Dist. 2) voted against the measure.

Average value homes in the county should show a slight decrease in the county portion of their property taxes. The average value home in the county in 2011 is $281,000, down from 2010 when the average value home was $294,000.

If the 2011 levy had remained at the same amount as the 2010 levy, the average value home would have seen about a 1.3 percent, or $15, increase in the county's portion of the property taxes. For the 2011 levy to have no impact - $0 increase - on the average value home, county officials would have had to adopt a levy that was $550,000 less than the 2010 levy. The approved 2011 levy is a $600,000 decrease from the 2010 numbers, resulting in the slight decrease for the average value home.

In order to get to that $600,000 decrease, county officials had to find about $2 million worth of savings to offset a more than $1 million increase in the cost of doing business in 2011. About $450,000 in savings came from staffing issues, such as a reduction in staff, reorganization efforts and lowering pay for new employees. New sources of revenue were also found to contribute to the savings as did changes in contractual services and reducing various operating budget line items. Dave Frischmon, director of the county's Financial Services Division, said that all of the cuts are sustainable and permanent rather than being one-time reductions.

Some taxpayers will see an increase in the county portion of their property taxes, even if their property lost value. Frischmon said that is because other properties in the county lost their values faster and so the property tax burden shifted resulting in the higher taxes.

Salaries

The commissioners also voted to cut their own salaries in 2011.

A staff recommendation had been to increase the salaries by 0.5 percent. Employee Relations Director Doris Krogman said that the board has gone three years without an increase in pay.

Carver County Commissioners' salary this year was $43,781. Other county commissioners' salary for 2010 was:

  • Hennepin County - $97,080
  • Dakota County - $64,700
  • Scott County - $47,010
  • Sherburne County - $36,938
  • Wright County - $36,527

    Krogman said that in the three years that the Carver County Commissioners kept their salary flat, other county employees have received some sort of pay increase. Increasing the salary by 0.5 percent would have resulted in a salary of $44,000.83 for the commissioners.

    Instead of increasing their salary by 0.5 percent, the commissioners decided to decrease it by 0.5 percent. Commissioner Randy Maluchnik (Dist. 3) was the one who proposed the reduction in pay. He said that the commissioners should be leaders and look ahead to the 2011 Legislature when state lawmakers would be cutting funds to the county. Commissioner Tim Lynch (Dist. 4) agreed and he said that a lot of their constituents are hurting. Commissioner Gayle Degler (Dist. 1) said that he did not believe any of the commissioners sought their office for the pay.

    The commissioners also set the 2011 salary for newly-elected County Attorney Mark Metz and newly-elected Sheriff Jim Olson. Based on the men's qualifications and experience, Krogman recommended that the commissioners set Metz's and Olson's salary somewhere in the range of $112,000 - $117,000. Current County Attorney Jim Keeler's salary this year was $123,382 and Current Sheriff Bud Olson's salary this year was $123,614.

    Workman said he thought setting the salaries was "very arbitrary." He said that the candidates ran for election with an expectation of what they were going to be paid and the taxpayers who voted for and essentially hired the two also had an expectation of what they were going to make. He suggested that in the future the board set a salary for the positions at about the same amount as the current attorney and sheriff make before the elections and that that salary won't change unless the commissioners vote to change it. Workman said that when he was elected as a commissioner, he had experience as a city councilor and state legislator, and that Chair Jim Ische (Dist. 5) also had experience as an elected official. That experience, Workman said, did not affect the salary that they received as commissioners.

    County Administrator David Hemze said that the commissioners are required by state statute to set the salaries and that the statute notes that issues such as experience, qualifications and performance should be considered when making the decision.

    Ische said that when Keeler was appointed in 2007, his starting salary was about $106,000. Ische suggested that both Metz and Olson have salaries of $115,000 in 2011. He said that would still be an increase in the starting pay for the county attorney position.

    The commissioners approved setting both the county attorney's and sheriff's salaries at $115,000.

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