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Crookston staff offers 22% levy to balance operations or 27.45% to keep pool open; residents urge saving the pool
Summary
City staff presented two balanced-budget options: a 22.2% levy that funds operations only, and a 27.45% levy that would operate the community pool but still leaves a roughly $95,000 gap. Dozens of residents urged council to keep the pool open while staff outlined steps to close the shortfall.
Jeff, a city staff member, told the Crookston City Council on Dec. 9 that staff had prepared two budget options: a $4.3 million levy (about a 22.2% increase) that balances operating expenses but does not rebuild reserves, and a $4.486 million full preliminary levy (about 27.45%) that would allow the city to operate the community pool but still left staff searching for roughly $94,000 to fully balance the draft budget.
The presentation walked the council and the public through the city’s 2023 audited fund balances, the categories of municipal fund balances (nonspendable, restricted, committed, assigned and unassigned) and a city cash policy that seeks roughly 45% of operating costs in unassigned reserves. Jeff said that after accounting for receivables and an internal IOU from the streets department the city’s usable unassigned balance is about $1.14 million, well below the policy target. He said recent years’ use of reserves and a drop in county-reported tax capacity contributed to the shortfall.
On capital needs, staff cited a preliminary SEH engineering report that estimated critical structural pool repairs at about $1.2 million. Jeff emphasized that the larger repair estimate is distinct from the pool’s annual operating cost: the 27.45% levy in staff’s model includes operating the pool but does not cover the full capital repair total.
Residents and organized groups filled the meeting’s public-comment period and the later budget workshop to press for keeping the pool open. “We need that pool in this city,” Patty Amy Yot said, noting local fundraising efforts and volunteer organizing under the group Fin & Fit. Longtime pool employee Trish Erdnier recounted decades of lessons, therapy and rehabilitation use, saying closing the pool would shrink recreational and health options for children and seniors.
Other speakers pressed the council about steep individual tax changes and the county assessor’s role in property-value changes. One resident said his property-tax bill rose markedly and staff answered that valuations come from the county; the city sets the levy.
Council members probed several mitigation options. Staff said they expected roughly $30,000 from workers’-compensation accounting adjustments and identified about $50,000 more in possible savings or reallocations as they finalize union settlements and line-item checks. Staff also highlighted uncounted or under-counted pool revenues (school contributions, credit-card receipts, lesson and membership fees) that could further close the gap.
Council discussion ranged from fiscal caution to community preservation. Some members said they were willing to adopt the higher levy to keep the pool operating for 2025 if staff could produce a balanced budget at the next meeting, while urging creation of a pool steering committee, a reworked fee schedule and more community fundraising to improve sustainability.
The council did not take a final vote on the levy at the Dec. 9 meeting; staff said they would present a revised, balanced budget at the next meeting. The budget workshop ended with the mayor and council agreeing to continue work on the specific revenue and expenditure moves needed to close the remaining shortfall.
