2020 draft tentative budget keeps Lewis County taxes stable

Oct. 17--LOWVILLE -- The first glimpse of Lewis County's 2020 tentative budget calls for the tax rate to hold steady at 7.49%, largely because an increase in the taxable property values has increased the amount brought in by taxes while projected revenues are also up from last year.

The $50 million budget introduced by County Manager Ryan M. Piche in the county board's Finance and Rules Committee on Tuesday evening is the result of a series of meetings between Mr. Piche, County Treasurer Patricia L. O'Brien and county department heads over the past two months.

The tax levy is estimated to increase by 3.82% from $16.4 million to $17.04 million, although 79% of the levy will be used to cover the county share of state-mandated programs.

Total revenue is anticipated to increase by about 6%, from $29.59 million to $31.37 million, in part due to wind farm payments in lieu of taxes, sales tax, mortgage tax fees and other internal revenue that doesn't include property taxes.

Mr. Piche said the health insurance system now in place for county employees has had a positive impact on the internal services fund balance, raising it from $1.1 million in March 2017 to $4.97 million in August 2019. Premiums do not increase in this first draft of the tentative budget.

Mr. Piche reminded the board that the goal was to have a $4 million fund balance. Soon, he said, board members will need to take actions that will keep the fund from growing too large, potentially by creating "premium free months" for plan members that will keep the fund in check without having the balance diminish too much over time as would a full premium reduction.

A number of departments may see a significant increase in their budgets next year, although very few were granted all funds requested.

With a 72% increase proposed for the Economic Development Department, it is the department with the largest change, from $104,654 allotted in the 2019 budget to $180,558 recommended for 2020.

Budgetary "structural changes" are cited as the main reason for the increase, which will result in a $127,750 direct payment to "Non Departmental Contributions" which is a total of a new $95,000 direct contribution and $32,750 in departmental line-items that have been removed from the main budget.

A crew leader in the Recreation, Forestry, Trails and Parks is budgeted for an upgrade from a part-time to full-time position, adding $47,394 to last year's $84,561 budget from 2019 that is partially paid for by increased revenue from trail permits and forest harvest. The tentative 2020 budget for the department is up 34.7% to $113,980.

The Information Technology Department has a bump of 23.3% in the tentative budget, up to $345,507 from $264,726. The increase covers a new computer assistant position for $74,602, a $50,000 investment into a storage area network and a civil computer system for the Sheriff's Office. $50,000 of excess sales tax from 2019 will be used to "refresh the Capital Data Processing fund."

The District Attorney's Office saw a 20.3% increase from the 2019 budget from $488,652 to $588,064, mostly due to a $68,965 increase to make the Assistant District Attorney position full time from being a part time position in last year's budget.

Despite a $16,725 salary line decrease and an increase in grant funding by about $25,000 in the Office of the Aging's budget, the department is in need of a 15.5% increase from $331,229 to $382,577.

While most departments had increases of less than 10% in their budgets for next year and some had small decreases, a few departments were able to cut their spending significantly compared to last year.

Those that have decreased the most include the Buildings and Grounds Department, which is scheduled for a 15.2% budget decrease from $766,845 for 2019 to $650,307 for 2020; the Codes Department which is down 11.6% from $239,488 to $211,617, and the Community Services Department, also down 11.6% from $130,383 to $115,297

Mr. Piche told the board that although the legislators refused to add the first raise for their positions since 2000 because of the 1.9% tax increase last year, he has calculated a $1,000 salary increase for each legislator in the 2020 tentative budget, which would raise that department's spending by 9.3% from $232,951 to $254,608.

The board will discuss the draft tentative budget again in the next committee meeting in preparation for the public hearing that is likely set for Dec. 2.

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