Dakota County commissioner briefs Rosemount council on corridor projects, county services and budget pressures

Dakota County Commissioner Bill Drosti briefed the Rosemount City Council on Oct. 7 about upcoming road projects on and near Highway 3, the county's human services workload and budget pressures officials expect in 2026.

Drosti told the council engineers are studying several choke points on Highway 3 between 494 and County 60, including intersections at Akron Avenue and Biscayne. He said two signalized intersections are planned near Auburn and Biscayne, with construction slated in 2027 so signals will be in place before the local school opens. The county expects to advertise or begin engineering work on additional corridor elements and issued an RFP for engineering to study railroad crossing issues at Highway 3 and County 42.

He also described County Road 46 (County 100) and County 60/60th Street between Highway 3 and Highway 52 as a corridor that needs to be upgraded from two lanes to four lanes; he said that corridor is a longer-term, costly project that will require funding and engineering over several years. Drosti said stoplights are likely to be installed at the Highway 52/46 interchange within the next month or two because of accident history and increasing traffic.

Drosti outlined county housing and human-services work, noting the county operates about 2,856 housing units including 1,651 senior units and recently opened Nichols Point (Eagan) with a veterans preference. He described a major redevelopment in Eagan (redevelopment of a former data center site) that the county expects could include workforce or senior housing. He said Dakota County administers many safety-net programs — SNAP, child protection services, Medicaid administration — and reported roughly 54,000 active cases across programs, 46,280 medical-assistance cases and about 551 households receiving monthly cash assistance. He said county staffers handle tens of thousands of calls and in-person visits each year.

On county finances, Drosti said the county's minimum levy this year is 9.5 (mills) and next year is projected at 9.9 (mills) and that budget decisions will include removing 44 positions from the budget (positions not being filled this year) and that personnel reductions were achieved largely by holding vacancies open. He said major budget drivers include cost-of-living increases and state program cost shifts that force county property-tax increases to cover administrative costs for SNAP and Medicaid. Using local medians, he said the county's median home price implies an average levy increase of roughly $68.11 for a median county home ($385,000) and about $101.95 for a Rosemount median home ($422,000).

Drosti also noted the county adopted a five-year capital-improvement program totaling approximately $9,000,000 for trails, parks and facilities and invited Rosemount staff and residents to comment by Nov. 14 with a public hearing scheduled in mid-December.

Council members thanked Drosti for the update. Commissioner Drosti said he would distribute the county PowerPoint to city staff and invited questions; none were raised before the council moved on to other business.