Northfield Council contemplates 3{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} preliminary levy
The Northfield Council discussed the budget for 2017 last night. Mayor Graham’s goal was to go through each department to look at where they are this year and what they’re asking for for next year and to discuss both the Capital Improvement and Capital Equipment Plans. They didn’t get through it all as the clock clicked toward 3 hours. Instead they spent the last 20 minutes discussing the levy. Graham said, “Staff is proposing a total levy increase of 3{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} this year”. Included in that
increase are the EDA and HRA levies. The General Fund increase would be $234,000. The debt levy is going down with the payoff of the NCRC. The Northfield’s total budget is about $11.8 million. Council had passed a resolution to never go below a 40{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} reserve. If everything goes according to Staff plans and numbers, Graham said, “we would be $865,000 over 50{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} this year”. Graham said that with the growth of construction, the City is bringing in dollars for permits and fees. Those dollars go right to the general fund. They estimated they’d bring in $270,000 in licenses and permits this year. At mid-year they were already at $208,000. Graham said the majority of the Council were comfortable with a 3{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} preliminary levy. DeLong wanted to set it at 2{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} and Ludescher, who was not in attendance, wanted to go at 0{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9}. Council will vote on setting the preliminary levy September 20th. The final levy is due in December.
Dundas Council Opts Out of temporary dwellings and dinosaur dilemma dealt with
Dundas City Council, as many other cities across the state including Northfield, voted to “Opt Out” Governor Dayton’s legislation allowing temporary health dwellings on residential properties. McCarthy said Council understands there’s a need to provide in-home care, “Staff has been instructed to start to look at our ordinances to see if we can make it easier for that to happen but it was felt that these temporary structures would be very difficult to regulate”. McCarthy said they just had too many concerns. In other Dundas news, a broken purple dinosaur caused quite a dilemma for Dundas Council. Because of cost and type of construction, the Council chose not to replace it. But the story doesn’t end there. McCarthy continued, “but recently a group of people came together, led by Arlene Williams, and several people in town made some contributions so the children are going to get their purple dinosaur back at Memorial Park”. It was ordered yesterday! Purple is the standard color of playground dinosaurs. Still no word on the culprit who broke it!
Hillman highlights School “highs” and a couple of “lows”
Northfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillman gave a State of the District Address to the Northfield School Board this week saying they have a lot to be proud of including the fact that Northfield continues to out perform the state average as a district on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. “86{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} of our advanced placement examinations taken at Northfield High School this year resulted in what the college board would consider college credits”. English Language learner and drama teacher Jennifer Lompart was a finalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year this past year. Hillman added that 75{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} of High School students are in some sort of co-curricular activity. There are challenges too, 13 in fact. Hillman didn’t list them all but the first one is always a concern, finances. They’ll make some budget adjustments sometimes this winter. Hillman’s entire interview is posted on this website.
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