Walsh County commissioners weigh cutting mills, boost cash reserves and reserve funds for building repairs

Walsh County commissioners on Sept. 30 reviewed final budget worksheets and directed county finance staff to move $25,000 from the sheriff's fuel line into county cash reserves while leaving the county's mill levy decision open for further review.

County finance staff member Christina said she had updated the budget items discussed at the prior meeting, including a technology reduction of $75,000, a county parks equipment reduction of $30,000 and a $30,000 port facility improvement grant reduction, and noted that the county's insurer had already filed its renewal on Aug. 29 so the county could not change that item. "I updated the budget items that we talked about last meeting, into the general advisory reports. So it was a, technology reduction of 75,000, the new equipment for the county parks reduction of 30,000, port facility improvement grant of 30,000," Christina said.

Christina told the commission that with those reductions the county's current general-fund levy request would be $3,971,866.52 and that, under a 3% statutory cap calculation, the county had unused levy capacity the worksheet showed as about $134,000. Commissioners reviewed alternate scenarios in which cash reserves ranged roughly from $3.05 million to about $3.18 million and corresponding mill rates ranged from about 57.45 to 59.39 mills.

"I'm all for reducing the mills to the taxpayers, but I don't believe this is the year to do it because we have too many unknowns," Commissioner Amy (chair) said during discussion, urging caution given recent years when unanticipated costs pushed budgets higher.

Sheriff Ron told the commission he expects to return with a budget amendment if needed and asked to restore $25,000 to his fuel line. "With my current budget, I will be back for a budget amendment at the end of the year. I think they took a little too much out of the gas budget for my liking. I would like to see at least 25,000 of that back in my gas budget," Ron said. Commissioners agreed to move that $25,000 into cash reserves for now so the funds could be used if departments need them later.

Several commissioners argued for keeping some room available for building maintenance and unanticipated repairs. Jason, who described ongoing work at the law enforcement center and other county facilities, said the county is waiting on a filter housing order for the LEC and that radon mitigation and other building repairs are still outstanding. "We do have a filter housing that's still on order from last spring...we still don't have that, and we still don't know what we're getting," Jason said.

Commissioners discussed two approaches: (1) add specific dollars back to line items such as the sheriff's fuel or buildings and grounds, or (2) increase the county's cash-reserve target so funds are available across the general fund for maintenance or emergencies. Commissioner Paul argued that the state's 3% cap is pushing mill rates downward and that increasing cash reserves would provide flexibility. "I think the 3% cap that the state implemented is naturally going to put downward pressure on our mill rate," Paul said.

Christina ran scenarios on the spot. In one iteration she moved $25,000 out of the sheriff's fuel line into cash reserves and reported a resulting cash-reserve balance between about $3.14 million and $3.18 million depending on small subsequent adjustments; the total levy request in those scenarios was approximately $4.0 million and produced mill rates in the high 58s to 59.39 mills in the worksheet runs shown to the commission.

No formal vote was recorded during the meeting. Commissioners accepted the worksheet updates and directed staff to provide final numbers labeled "final" for commission review. They also asked staff to return with a prioritized list of buildings-and-grounds projects so any money added back into the budget could be tied to specific, prioritized maintenance or capital work. Christina confirmed she would update the worksheets and circulate the final figures ahead of the next special meeting on Oct. 7.

The commission also discussed health insurance renewals: Christina said the county's insurer had already filed the renewal by Aug. 29 and would not permit changes now, so she restored a $35,000 reduction back into the benefits budget. "We heard back from our insurance about asking if we could keep our renewal as is plan, and they said that because they already submitted it, they do that by August 29...we're not able to make changes again," Christina said.

Commissioners scheduled follow-up work: staff will deliver updated worksheets showing the final levy/cash-reserve scenarios and a prioritized list of buildings-and-grounds projects before the Oct. 7 special meeting. The commission did not adopt a final levy or formally approve amendments at the Sept. 30 session.