In  a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday, the Sherburne County Board certified the 2025 preliminary tax levy in the amount of $62,765,982.

That represents a 3.99% increase over the 2024 levy of $60,355,133, which was a 3.25% from the previous year.

Before the vote, Administrator Bruce Messelt said the increase was the result of a number of factors, including: Upward pressure on personnel, material, insurance, and energy costs due to high inflation and a competitive labor market; Necessary staffing, programs and activities to support the county’s population growth and provide the services requested by citizens or mandated by other governments; A continued investment in County Parks and Trails; Increased demand for public safety and social service programs.

Commissioner Andrew Hulse said he appreciated the effort by county staff, but the work to keep the levy down is never done. 

“Given the headwinds that we saw this year and the continued increase in unfunded mandates, I think staff did a yeoman’s work in getting it where it is today,” he said. “Moving forward... we’re going to have to  redouble our efforts on how to be more and more efficient in order to make sure that our levy increases are as small as possible.”

Messelt said the county added $168 million to the tax base in 2024, which can help keep overall taxes lower. But the decommissioning of Sherco Unit 2 and a legislative change to the way the market value exclusion is calculated, the tax base has grown less than 0.5% over the past year, which is substantially lower than each of the past 10 years when the county averaged over 8% annual tax base growth. Still, many properties could see lower taxable values for taxes payable 2025.

The estimated county tax increase with a 3.99% levy increase would be $5 for a $300,000 property, $20 for a  $400,000 property and $63 for a $500,000 property.

The county board can still lower the levy, but not increase it, before the final levy is certified in December.

LID Budgets

The board approved the 2025 budget for the Three Lake Improvement District. Because of a 2024 year-end balance of $113,311 and expenses calculated at $72,400 for 2025, the tax assessment to the 430 affected properties in 2025 will be $0.

The board approved the 2025 budget for the Eagle Lake Improvement District. The request is to place a $38,250 assessment on the County Tax Rolls. Based on the current ELID assessment list of 153, individual property assessments would equate to $250.

Windstream Lease

The board approved a five-year lease extension with Windstream Communications for leased space for a communication facility on the grounds of the Government Center, effective Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2029. The budgeted revenue for 2025 is $13,680.

Other Business

In other actions the board:

• Approved a $3,000 Child Foster Care & Kinship Caregiver Grant from the Three Rivers Community Foundation;

• Approved an amendment to the joint powers agreement with Clear Lake Twp. to add 106th Street to the Co. Rd. 65 reconstruction contract. The estimated cost to the township is $87,670;

• Approved an amended agreement with TKDA Engineering in the amount of $93,382 for Co. Rd. 44 design phase services;

• Approved a professional services agreement with All State Communications for installation of three security cameras each at Grams Park and Island View Park. Total cost is $55,760, which is covered by ARPA funds and the Parks budget;

• Proclaimed Sept. 17 as National IT Professional’s Day in Sherburne County.