By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
On Tuesday night at the Northfield City Council work session, the group heard the last update to the final 2024 Budget and Tax Levy before it is voted on at the December 3rd meeting. In September, the council approved a preliminary tax levy of 17.2%. However, the council asked staff to lower the levy amount. Tuesday night, city staff presented a budget with a proposed property tax increase of 15.8%.
According to data from the city, a home valued at $350,000, would see an increase of about $164 a year in their city portion of property taxes. City Administrator Ben Martig noted that every property owner would see different increases based on the market value of their house and indicated that statements homeowners received in the mail show just the preliminary information and not the final tax amounts:
And that is a preliminary tax levy impact, and so it estimates based on the proposed taxing jurisdictions, the city, the county, and the schools, what the estimated taxes would be. The school is pretty well set on that tax statement and they will have their own hearing. But the city and county thats a maximum amount that can go down.” – Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig on the KYMN Morning Show
A few factors are fueling the increase in the levy. Of the 15.8% increase, 5% of the levy is tied to the debt the city issued this past year for construction projects and equipment purchases. The projects include reconstructing College & Water Street and Jefferson Parkway and purchasing a new Pumper Fire Truck, Police Command Vehicle, and Dump Truck. 2.3% of the increase is linked to the maintenance fund, which includes items like Parks, the Northfield Community Resource Center, and other city properties.
The largest percentage of the 15.8% increase is an 8% increase in the general fund overall. Much of this is being fueled by inflationary costs, particularly around personal and general expenses. Additionally, the city is adding two new staff positions: a budget analyst and a lead mechanic. Overall, employee wages and benefits make up 65% of the expenses in the general fund.
(see the PowerPoint slides to the right for more details, power point from the 11/19/2024 City Council Work Session)
Martig broke down what some of the major costs in the general fund were:
It goes to City Public Works which is our streets taking care of our streets and our facilities it’s our Parks secondarily our Public Library is a larger portion of our budget that we provide services to the public it’s really kind of a community center provides a lot more than books a lot of resources there and then our Public Safety police and fire services in which we have had increased cost in both of those areas over the recent history driving some of those increases a lot of that is going to those kind of core services for the city then then the remaining amount is mainly capital investment on things like Street infrastructure. – Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig on the KYMN Morning Show in September
By department, Public Safety is the most expensive department, making up 39% of the general fund or about $7.6 million. General Government is the next largest expense at 20%, followed by Public Works at 19%, the Library at 11%, and Recreation at 9%.
(see the PowerPoint slides to the right for more details, power point from the 11/19/2024 City Council Work Session)
Northfield’s tax increase is larger than that of similar cities; however, the city’s total expenses are about the same compared to other cities, and the increase brings Northfield more in line with the average city.
(see the PowerPoint slides to the right for more details, power point from the 11/19/2024 City Council Work Session)
Martig noted that each government level, city, school district, and county would hold separate hearings and presentations about taxes and the budget. However, they should contact their county if they have questions about a home’s value.
The Northfield City Council will hold a final vote on the budget and tax levy after the Truth in Taxation presentation on December 3rd.
