Albertville Approves And Accepts $3 Million Budget for 2012

The approved and accepted the 2012 budget at its meeting Monday night, setting the city’s general levy about 1.5 percent higher than last year’s budget.

Albertville finance director Tina Lannes outlined the particulars for the council at the Truth in Taxation Public Hearing prior to the meeting. The meeting saw no residents with comment in regards to the 2012 budget.

The 2012 budget came in at just over $3 million, a 2.75 percent increase from the 2011 budget, or about $82,000.

The general levy (the collection of local property tax dollars) was set at $2.31 million, up about $56,000 from 2011 tax collections.

Changes made by the 2011 Minnesota Legislature were cited as the cause for an increase in property tax collections locally. Lannes said some properties, particularly commercial property and high value residential properties, saw tax increase. Others, including mainstream housing at or below the community average of about $195,000, saw a ta decrease.

"The Legislature changed the way they account for loss of market value," explained Lannes.

Across the board, many line items in the budget held steady. The council did approve a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for city staff, which raised those line items. The city will pay about $13,000 more in 2012 to the public works department, according to estimated expenditures approved Monday night.

Police and fire protection were the other high-priced items on the spending side.

The city expects to pay about $273,000 for fire protection, up around $8,000 from the current fiscal year. On the police protection side, costs for the contract with Wright County will climb about $5,000 to $522,000 in 2012.

“We still believe that we offer communities in the county a great deal for safety and protection,” said Sheriff Joe Hagerty. “The increase is pretty small when you consider what a cost-of-living adjustment would bring if you had your own department.”

Areas such as the Albertville Premium Outlets and the trio of bars (along with the parish center at times) in downtown Albertville require some added resources for deputies, Hagerty added.

“Plus, you have, arguably, the busiest intersection in the county [19 and 37] here in Albertville.”

The council applauded city staff’s effort to keep the budget relatively flat, yet still finding a way to include the COLA for local workers.

“I have to say that the lack of residents here for the [Truth in Taxation] hearing says something. I think that Tina and staff did a great job putting together the budget," Schommer said before the council voted and accepted the plan.

The proposed tax statements did not include the recently passed school district levy, which will be included on tax statements issued by Wright County next year.