By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
The final approval of budgets and tax levies for local governments is scheduled for the beginning of December. Each newscast this week will have a story about the City of Northfield’s tax increase to help explain the issue. Find the full series on our website under the “Guide to the Northfield City Budget.”
Today, we are looking at the historical trends of Northfield’s Tax Increases. Since 2016, the average tax levy increase has been 9.8%, a full 2 points higher than the average increase of comparable cities. However, it is worth noting that after several years of higher-than-average increases, Northfield spends about the same as other cities.
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Following budget cuts from the state in 2008 and 2009, the then city council opted to dramatically reduce the city’s staffing levels by over 20 positions. According to City Administrator Ben Martig, keeping the wages of city staff comparable to those of other cities has been one of the biggest reasons for the increases in taxes:
“So you had wage inflation that was going up. Our policy is that the council basically has to stay in the middle of the market. So we want to be right there in the middle of our comparable cities. And so that it has come at a cost.” – Ben Martig, Northfield City Administrator; A Guide to the Northfield City Budget
He also cited that over the last 10 years, as the city has slowly returned to the pre-2008 staffing levels, the new positions have been one of the main reasons for the higher tax increase.
“And the city over the last decade also has added a number of positions, including going to a full-time fire chief. We’ve added some police officer positions. Public Works has added some operators and a horticulturist. And then in general government, we’ve added a Spanish translator where we didn’t have translation services in-house prior to that. And then we’ve added a budget analyst.” – Ben Martig, Northfield City Administrator; A Guide to the Northfield City Budget
Martig stated that staff were not the only reason for the high tax increases; he cited a common struggle among everyone right now: Inflation. One study by the U.S. Transportation Department states that road construction costs have increased by 70% since 2020.
“Vehicles and equipment have increased substantially since the COVID disruption. That caused some issues over that time period. And then more recently, some of the tariffs and supply challenges is driven up our costs.” – Ben Martig, Northfield City Administrator; A Guide to the Northfield City Budget
For example, this year’s road construction projects at Industrial Drive, Laurel Court (by Kwik Trip), and Maple Drive cost a combined $2.5 million, and the work at Wall Street Rd. Cost $7 million. On the equipment side, items like a police car now cost $77,000.
In tomorrow’s news will talk specifically about the two major cost drivers in this year’s budget: Staff and the Ice Arena.
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