Washington County budget stays a flat course

For the fourth consecutive year, the property tax levy for Washington County's 2014 budget is expected to stay virtually flat.

County Board members last week got their first glimpse at how revenues and spending are expected to play out. The plan now comes under weeks of scrutiny and revision before final approval in mid-December.

And they liked what they saw so far: a small 0.66-percent increase in the general tax levy that, when a median 2.4-percent increase in property value is factored in, will actually leave taxpayers with homes at the $207,000 median paying $9 a year less for the county's share of their property tax bills than they paidin 2013. The County Board had kept the levy unchanged for budgets in 2011 and 2013, and it decreased slightly in 2012.

Separately, the county also is proposing to levy $620,000 for another $5 million bond issue to fund its Land and Water Legacy Program. Voters approved the program in a 2006 referendum which authorizes the county to issue up to $20 million in bonds for land preservation, water protection and parks. The new bond issue would be the second $5 million chunk since the program started, with the money dedicated to more land acquisitions. That would add another $5 annual cost to that typical county homeowner's property tax bill, still leaving a net savings of $4 compared to the previous year.

Another factor keeping pressure off the property tax levy will be an increase in the wheelage tax on Jan. 1 from $5 to $10. The fee that is part of the annual cost of motor vehicle registrations has been collected in Washington County since 2007, and the county has supported its use because it is user-based, the money stays in the county and it reduces the need to use property taxes to pay for transportation needs. The 2013 Legislature made major changes in the wheelage tax, allowing all 87 counties to charge it. The tax is set by law at $10, so the only other option would be to eliminate it. The cap has not increased since the tax was created in 1971.

The wheelage tax increase means another $1.2 million in revenue, which will be dedicated entirely to road improvements, said Kevin Corbid, deputy county administrator. The county has a backlog of road maintenance needs, he noted.

Other decisions by the Legislature, along with those of Congress, played a role in how the new budget has come together, Corbid said.

The Affordable Care Act, the landmark health reform bill made law by President Obama in 2010, and MnChoices, a mandated screening program designed to streamline the process by which the elderly and disabled can access public health services, also will require hiring about 20 more people, Corbid said. Much of that need is a result of many more people qualifying for Medicaid, and the work that entails for the county. Funding for the positions will not come from the property tax levy, but from part of the $2.8 million in additional revenues the county will receive from the state and federal governments.

The county's net levy, the amount it is proposing to get from property taxes, is $86.7 million. Non-levy revenues are almost as much: $85 million. Its operating expenditures are pegged at $147.4 million, an increase of 3.23 percent.

Other budget notes:

• All labor contracts between the county and its union employees are expiring in 2014-15, meaning a busy year of negotiations. Wages and benefits comprise 61 percent of the county's operating budget, and the county has held the line on both salaries and staffing. Health insurance premiums could be a point of contention.

• Sunday hours are expected to be restored during the school year for Hardwood Creek and Park Grove libraries in Forest Lake and Cottage Grove. A one-time expenditure of $100,000 also would be made for buying electronic library materials.

• Minnesota's new "no excuse" absentee voting law means the county would spend about $55,000 for equipment and other costs as a result of an expected surge in absentee voting next year.

• The county's AAA bond rating from both Moody's and Standard & Poor's services are the highest possible, and brings significant benefits to the county, Corbid said. Washington County is among fewer than 70 counties nationwide with the top rating by both services.

County commissioners, who will now hear presentations from individual departments in the coming weeks as they parse through the numbers, uniformly praised the proposal.

"This is an outstanding budget that's been brought forward," said Commissioner Gary Kriesel, which he notes is keeping in line with the board's fiscally conservative stance and focus on essential core services. "We've been very mean and lean when it comes to our budgets."

Jim Anderson • 651-925-5039