On Tuesday night the Northfield City Council reached a consensus to set the preliminary tax levy for next 
year at 18.5%.
The city budget will grow for several reasons in 2023, from collectively bargained wage increases, which comprise 65% of the city budget, to the increase in the Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service budget, to committed debt service. The public works department will add two more employees in 2023. And the new collective bargaining agreement requires an increase of $165,000 to the police department overtime budget.
City administrator Ben Martig reminded the City Council and city staff department heads that those figures were already approved and in the budget at the beginning of the meeting, and indeed, he said, 87% of the budget had already been worked out.
The Council was left to debate the funding of Northfield City Parks and Facilities, the Northfield Library, and the Northfield Police Department.
The parks and facilities have been underfunded for many years. Martig’s presentation showed that the cost of maintenance on the city parks is about $1 million dollars a year but is budgeted at $103,000. Similarly, fully funding the facilities maintenance fund for five years would come to $250,000 each year. That number currently stands at $78,000.
Mayor Rhonda Pownell said she fully supports the increase to the parks funding.
“We need to make headway on our parks,” she said. “If we had increased parks funding by 1% every year since 2008, we’d be [where we need to be]. But since we’ve waited all this time, now we have to play catch up.”
The library is seeking an increase of $115,000 in order to turn three part-time positions into full time positions and increase their outreach programs by establishing a small “oasis” library at the NCRC building.
Councilor Jami Reister spoke in favor of the increase.
“The library is one of the cornerstones of equity in the community,” she said. “Everyone can be there. People don’t have to pay to use it. And it gives people access to a computer or other things they do not have.”
The least debated increase was for $140,000 to the police department. Looking at the retirement of three supervisory positions in 2024 – 43% of the entire supervisory staff – the NPD must begin to hire new police officers in order to make the necessary promotions ahead of those retirements.
The preliminary levy is not the final tax levy, but the highest the tax levy may be set for the year. Once set, it may not be increased. By law, the City Council is required to set the preliminary tax levy in September. That vote will come next Tuesday at the final regular meeting of the month.
Hillmann says expectations for the school year will be “re-set”
As a new school year begins, Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said he and the 
district staff are calling this a re-set year.
“I don’t use the term normal, because nobody knows what normal is anymore,” he said. “We’ve been back to regular instruction for some time. Really the disruptions of shifting to distance learning were relegated to the end of the 2019-2020 school year, and the 2020-2021 school year. Last year we were able to stay in in-person learning for the full year, but certainly there were disruptions to families because of Covid. But this year we are back to the regular process.”
He said there certainly have been changes made to the way things were handled prior to the pandemic, and they are still evaluating just exactly what the new normal will be.
“There are changes, and I know that everybody thinks, ‘Oh, we’ve come out of this, now, and these changes happen right away.’ [But that’s not correct.] I think that the changes that will happen to our system will come more slowly. We’re figuring out what things we learned during the pandemic that should stay and be part of our system and what are the things that we need to get back to.”
Coming through a time when three different school years were affected by Covid-19, Hillmann said it is important to remind everyone of the proper expectations of a school year and reinforce them as well.
“This year, we’re using the theme throughout the district of a re-set year,” he said. “We’re re-setting our expectations. We’re re-setting our commitment to each other and to learning.”
Hillmann said the best example of the theme is attendance. Because of the pandemic and so many different ways students were taught, he said it is important to make school attendance a priority and to remind everyone that students are expected to come to school.
New high school principal Shane Baier, along with two of his assistants will be paying a visit to every 9-12 grade core academic class to go through the school expectations, in order to give each student as much clarity as possible about what is expected.
Hillmann said beginning a year that does not feel threatened by a global pandemic is like a collective weight has been lifted from the district, and the beginning of this year has one of the most optimistic feels that he can remember.
Rice County promoting voter registration
The Rice County Board of Commissioners is reminding every eligible voter in the county that Voter 
Registration Day is next Tuesday, September 20th.
A statement issued by the county said, “Every eligible American voter should have the option to exercise their right to be heard at the ballot box, and National Voter Registration Day is the right day to start by getting registered.”
The voter registration process in Minnesota is easy and convenient and can be done online at the Minnesota Secretary of State website. Paper applications are available on that website as well and can also be found at the Rice County Property Tax and Elections Office inside the Rice County Government Services Building.
While Minnesota allows voters to register at their polling place on Election Day registering beforehand will save time on what’s expected to be a very busy day at the polls.
For more information, visit the Minnesota Secretary of State website.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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