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Lindstrom staff reports 9.44% preliminary levy increase after revisions; council seeks clearer homeowner impacts and a buckthorn plan
Summary
City staff reported the draft 2025 levy impact fell from 12.22% to 9.44% after adjustments; staff also described reallocations of LGA and plans to preserve street reconstruction funding. Council asked for clearer homeowner impact figures and a defined multi‑year plan for invasive buckthorn removal.
City Administrator Dan Ondham (speaker 1) gave a mid‑cycle update on the 2025 budget process and said staff have reduced the earlier draft levy proposal from 12.22% to a 9.44% increase by reallocating certain capital funds and trimming selected projects.
Dan said the administration reallocated about $22,000 of Local Government Aid from long‑range capital to the general fund to soften levy impact and preserved a $220,000 increase for street reconstruction while reducing the street maintenance allocation by $40,000. Dan also said the EDA levy allocation in the draft budget was increased (transcript reported "increased that to $97.05") and that the city has preliminary tax capacity numbers showing a slight reduction in total tax capacity from about $7,800,000 to approximately $7.6 million.
Councilors asked staff for clearer homeowner impact figures; Dan pointed out a chart in the packet showing bottom‑line impacts (for example the packet displayed a per‑home increase figure for a $200,000 home). Council members requested a comparison to neighboring towns and asked staff to continue scrubbing the budget before the statutory preliminary levy setting on Sept. 18.
On parks, council members urged a defined multi‑year plan and budget for buckthorn removal rather than an open‑ended recurring line item. Staff said the parks commission and partner organizations (including Great River Greening) have done work and that staff will try to scope acres, timeline and costs to justify future budget allocations and potential grant applications.
Why it matters: preliminary levy decisions drive property tax notices and shape capital spending for streets and parks; council members emphasized both minimizing levy impact and ensuring funded programs (such as invasive species control) have measurable outcomes.
Next steps: staff to return with more detailed homeowner impact analyses, a timeline and cost estimate for buckthorn control, and additional budget detail at the September work session.
