After zooming from less than $40 million to more than $55 million over the past five years, the property tax burden in Scott County will be ratcheted back a bit next year. And that might not ever have happened before.

It doesn't mean everyone's tax bill will decline. But the county's portion at least will drop for most homeowners -- and by quite a bit for quite a few.

"This is a truly historic budget," County Administrator Gary Shelton told board members Tuesday. "I don't think there has ever been a day when all our tax levies across the board" -- meaning year-over-year changes -- "have been set at the zero level," with the total collection of taxes decreasing.

The unanimous vote on Tuesday was made unusually early in the budget cycle, in what seemed designed as a signal to cities and school districts that when their turn comes later this month, they should do the same thing.

But the budget cuts will have a price. Roads spending will be throttled back, so much so that:

• Senior managers will travel the rubber-chicken circuit over the next few weeks, explaining to civic groups what they have accomplished and expect to accomplish despite the cuts.

• Commissioners have agreed to pull out a credit card, so to speak, to help keep some key projects on track, by issuing about $15 million in bonds for roads.

Conversely, none of last fall's talk of severe cuts to amenities such as libraries, parks, the county fair, or the historical society, has been repeated this time around.

"We are not retreating in those areas," Shelton said.

Here's what the county is choosing to do:

• The net property tax levy -- the most oft-cited marquee number -- will drop from $55.8 million to $55.0 million after steep increases for years.

That won't be enough to spare owners of the most coveted properties, such as lakeshore, from small increases. But people in the hardest hit zones -- often including townhouses and foreclosure-plagued exurban subdivisions with long commutes -- will see declines of up to $300 a year.

• The county's attempt to ramp up its roads spending in recent years will be dialed back, so much so that the county calculates a $44 million gap in infrastructure funding over the next decade from what it would have been if spending had been maintained.

At the same time, however, population growth also has slowed dramatically, and a down economy has cut traffic. And the county is benefitting from nearly $10 million in federal stimulus money to help it through the recession.

Commissioner Jerry Hennen of Shakopee wondered aloud whether Minnesota's controversial gas-tax hike is also helping. Highway engineer Mitch Rasmussen said it is -- up to a point.

"We are getting additional funds," he said, "but not as much as projected," because higher gas prices have cut into vehicle miles driven. "We got about a 5 percent increase from '08 to '09, whereas without the gas tax increase, we probably would have seen about a 10 percent decrease."

David Peterson • 952-882-9023

TO LEARN MORE

Upcoming budget presentations to civic groups include:

SEPT. 16: Belle Plaine Rotary and Chamber, noon, Kings Way Living; Jordan Chamber, 7 p.m., Ridges at Sand Creek golf club; Township officers, 7 p.m., Spring Lake town hall

SEPT 17: Savage Rotary, noon, Perkins in Savage

SEPT. 23: Shakopee Chamber, 11:30 a.m., Canterbury Inn