The Anoka County Board voted Thursday to approve a 2015 budget that would increase the county's property-tax collections.

The vote comes on the heels of three straight years of "historic, unprecedented" reductions, the board said in a news release.

The proposed .89 percent levy increase is the result of a new public-safety computer system and higher costs for health insurance and inmate prescription medicine, county officials said.

Board Chairwoman Rhonda Sivarajah called the proposed 2015 budget of $119.4 million lean, effective and efficient and said the board has been a good steward of tax dollars.

The public-safety computer system is the first of its kind in Minnesota and will allow police and firefighters to share computer records in a way they never could before, county officials say. The maintenance cost of the system is about $600,000 a year.

Other factors contributing to the proposed increase include a reduction of almost $1 million in fees recovered from property transactions, an increase of $90,000 in inmate prescription medicine costs and a new cost of $630,000 to convert medical assistance cases to MNsure.

The proposed 2015 budget is expected to be finalized in December. A public meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Anoka County Government Center in Anoka to allow citizens to comment.

Karen Zamora