County and city projects have in the last two years cost more than expected due to increased construction costs, but finally, taxpayers are getting a break from an economic downswing.
The Greene County supervisors at their Jan. 16 meeting authorized a purchase agreement for $3.3 million in bonds for a new communication tower and radio equipment for law enforcement and emergency personnel. The interest rate on the bonds is locked in at 3.06 percent, down from 3.45 percent had the bonds been sold a month ago. “It’s a good time to sell bonds,” Heidi Kuhl of Northland Securities, the company handling the bond sale, told the supervisors. “I’m very pleased with the sale.”
The lower interest rate means the property tax levy to pay the debt will be less than estimated. The rate was estimated at 48-49 cents (per thousand of taxable valuation) last summer. The levy rate has been re-estimated at 41.5 cents. “I’m very, very pleased with that,” Kuhl said.
The bonds are financed over 10 years.
In other business, the supervisors set Feb. 6 at 9 am as the time for a public hearing to amend the current year budget. Auditor Jane Heun briefly explained adjustments both upward and downward, some of them sizeable, including the communications tower.
Increases in the amount earned on investments (Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen aggressively invests money being held in county accounts while assuring there is enough liquidity to meet expenses.) and Covid relief funds not in the budget helped offset increases in expenses.
The amendment shows total revenue of $20,335,034, increased $3,464,300 from the budget approved last March for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022.
The amendment shows total expenditures of $21,176,477, increased $3,312,499 from the March budget.
The official county newspapers will have a legal notice of the public hearing.
Also in other business, treasure Mechaelsen reviewed her proposed budget for FY24. She estimated revenues generated by that office at just less than $155,000, nearly identical to the current year estimated. She estimated expenditures, including wages and benefits, at $306,100, which is $20,700 more than the current year. The increase is all attributed to wage and benefits increases.
Early in the meeting supervisor Dawn Rudolph reported a conversation with Dave Wolf, who had purchased a parcel of land and then learned there was county-owned property adjacent to it. He learned the property was held by the county as a place where people could cut wood.
Board chair John Muir said he knew of county-owned woodlots in the past. Rudolph suggested there may be other parcels, and asked Pam Olerich in the auditor’s office to research the number and size of them. She suggested they be sold and put on the tax roll.
“That’s something to look into, see what’s out there,” Muir said.
Heun commented that the county probably owns more land in abandoned railroad rights-of-way than the woodlots.
Attorney Thomas Laehn said that generally, “the less county the property owns, the better.”
