Wadena County continues work on 2017 budget
There was some good news at the Sept. 13 county commissioner’s board meeting in Wadena. Three department heads came before the board to reveal reductions in their 2017 budget requests that will help reduce the county’s property tax levy increase.
Curt Kreklau, Director of Human Resources and Information Technology, advised the board of his plan to outsource the work of a network administrator, instead of hiring a new employee to do that job. Kreklau believes that contracting the work out will save $22,000 next year, and reduce his overall IT budget by $45,000.
County Attorney Kyra Ladd told the board that she and her staff had made an error in calculating the pay and benefits portion of her 2017 budget. The total request will be reduced by $45,000.
Social Services Director Tanya Leskey told commissioners that she wanted to use about $300,000 from the Social Services Fund to make up the difference between the 2017 expected revenue and the 2017 projected expenses. Leskey also noted that the department’s expected revenue might increase in 2017 in certain areas. But that is uncertain.
So it was a pretty good day for the commissioners, who are working hard to reduce the total county budget for 2017 so the property tax levy doesn’t have to be increased as much as first thought.
Between last week’s and this week’s budget reductions, the projected county expenses for 2017 have decreased by about $500,000. That is a great result, but work on the budget will continue until every possible expense has been reconsidered.
Also at the Sept. 13 board meeting, commissioners held a closed session to discuss labor negotiations. At the end of that session, Board Chair Jim Hofer reopened the meeting to announce a decision by the board to offer a new form of health insurance to the county’s bargaining units.
Hofer said that the new plan “will meet the needs of both the employer and the employees” and was designed with the help of Gallagher & Associates (the county’s insurance consulting firm). Employees will be offered a choice between two plans: (1) One plan with a $3,250 deductible and maximum $6,500 out-of-pocket expenses, with prescription drug coverage, and (2) One plan with the same deductible and out-of-pocket expenses, but without prescription drug coverage.
The county and its bargaining unit employees are still operating under the labor contracts that expired on Dec. 31, 2015, and have been negotiating a new agreement for more than a year.
In other business, the board
o Approved the payment of $51,038 to Todd-Wadena Community Corrections to help cover the severance pay due to three employees who retired after many years of service. Todd County is paying the rest of the severance pay monies.
o Approved the replacement of the Transit Building parking lot surface, with funds coming 85 percent from the State of Minnesota Department of Transportation and 15 percent from the county.
o Approved the publication of a 2016 Plat Book at a price of $25, with 60 percent of the proceeds going to the zoning and GIS departments for employee costs and 40 percent to production costs.
o Discussion on the new possible locations of the county’s Veterans’ Monument after the annex is built. It was decided to wait until the building is finished before making a decision.
o Approved the final payments for two road construction projects, and accepted an increase in state funding for the highway department.
o Discussed the rezoning of the residential lots recently purchased for additional space for a new county parking lot near the courthouse, the process required by the City of Wadena for rezoning from residential to commercial, and the application for a building permit for the annex.
