Tax season is upon us, with the deadline to file state and federal returns just under a month away. As is the case in most years, there have been some changes to the tax codes for 2024, and Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) is reminding the people of District 58A that additional tax savings are available to parents, renters, and some on Social Security.
Last year the State Legislature passed a child tax credit of up to $1750 per qualifying child. The credit begins to phase out when a single filer’s income reaches $29,500, or $35,000 for a married couple filing jointly. The credit is fully phased out at the $90,750 income level for a family of four.
School supplies purchased for dependent children could qualify for either the K-12 Education Subtraction, or the K-12 Education Credit, and possibly both. Eligibility is for those who have a kindergarten through 12th grade student at a public, private, or qualifying home school, and for whom supplies have been purchased and receipts were kept.
Renters are encouraged to look into the State Property Tax refund. The 2023 legislature streamlined and simplified the process, to ensure that renters can receive the property tax refund that would be due to them.
The state also passed an exemption for some people collecting social security. A married couple earning less than $100,000 or a single person who earns less than $78,000 can claim the exemption. Pursell acknowledged that a full exemption on Social Security Benefits had been discussed, but it did not find approval with the DFL majority.
“There’s a Social Security income exemption. We didn’t do it across the board as was talked about a lot last year, so it’s not a full exemption. The proposal that we were seeing from our friends across the aisle really helped out people who were still making quite a bit of money even in their retirement. We narrowed that scope to be, in my opinion, a better use of taxpayer dollars to really just help out those lowest earners.”
Those with questions about the new tax codes, deductions and exemptions should contact their tax preparer or visit revenue.state.mn.us. The deadline to file is Monday, April 15th.
Hospital Board seeking ‘balanced outcome’ for 2024
On Tuesday night during the Northfield State of the City Address, Fred Rogers was honored with the Board & Commission Member Excellence Award. Rogers has served on the Northfield Enterprise Corporation, the Northfield Roundtable, and the Economic Development Authority as both a board member and as president. He is also a longtime member of the Northfield Hospital Board.
Nominated by fellow members of the Hospital board, Rogers served as Board Chair during the Covid-19 pandemic and was praised for his leadership throughout that period.
Rogers said it was a difficult and uncertain time. The virus emerged, of course, as a completely unknown entity, and Northfield Hospital, like every other healthcare center in the world, had to learn how to deal with it as they went along.
He said one of the lasting issues from Covid is the economic troubles it brought. Hospitals were able to withstand the pandemic with help from federal aid. Once that funding stopped, most healthcare systems, he said, found themselves in a tough situation. Costs rose at an astronomical level, and the payments to hospitals that had been negotiated with insurance companies, to say nothing of Medicare and Medicaid, have not been enough to sustain things.
“The challenge really is the multi-year healthcare reimbursement contracts. So, we get a multi-year contract from Blue Cross or Health partners for reimbursement. But when the labor costs go up and we have to raise wages by 15%, there’s no compensation for that. And so, the hospital ends up paying more expenses for labor for drugs and for supplies, and there’s just no change in the prices until that catches up.”
Northfield Hospital + Clinics is not alone in this crisis, he said, pointing out that every health care clinic in the State of Minnesota, except for the Mayo Clinic, is losing money.
NH+C has taken measures to right things, closing the longterm care facility, the clinic in Lonsdale, and ending its hospice care service. Rogers pointed to the success of the renovated Birth Center as a sign that NH+C is coming back around, and he said he believes there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“There are a lot of challenges to go, but I am optimistic. I think we have great leadership at the hospital, and hopefully in 2024 are going to be on the other side of some of these terrible financial losses that we’ve had. The board has set a goal of having a balanced outcome at the end of 2024 and we’re working with the staff in the hospital very diligently and focused to make that happen.”
Rogers was gracious about receiving the Board & Commission excellence award, and said he believes strongly that good things happen when people work together. He has just begun his 3rd term on the Hospital Board.
KYMN News 3/21/24
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
