The O’Brien County Supervisors have been hearing budget requests from departments and outside organizations contracted to provide specific services. Regular business of the supervisors has progressed as normal.
On January 31 Scott Rinehart, O’Brien County Engineer presented a utility construction permit application for approval. While providing information to the supervisors he also gave a final day of work before he retires. He set that date at July 5, 2023. The search for a county engineer is well underway with a salary range and qualifications discussed.
All departments are facing inflation and have asked for increased budgets. The salary recommendation provided to the board by the O’Brien County Compensation Board was for a 3.5% salary increase, down from the last fiscal year. The recommended increase for the sheriff is 6%.
The Maximum Tax Levy public hearing was set for February 21. The normal budget is due to be done no later than March 31. The state recently proposed legislation requiring townships, cities and counties to use valuations of the 2022 fiscal year. Those valuations are lower than the current valuations, forcing a reduction in local collections. The legislation has not passed at this writing but guidance to cities and counties is to continue as normal.
Kiana Johnson, O’Brien County Economic Development Director reported the cumulative effect of the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) since 1993 to O’Brien County. The 30 years of having funds available for business development and retention loans has made 67 loans, providing $5,136,246 in financing retaining 215 jobs and creating 312 in the county. Discussion of the Value Added Ag committee’s activities to showcase agriculture jobs, farm ownership succession planning and the Ag Hall of Fame program brought the impact of agriculture to the regional economy and jobs to light. Tourism enjoyed the same exposure as an economic driver and employer within the county. The state provided 2021 tourism economic impact data, the most recent year available. O’Brien County showed nearly continuous growth to its tourism spending since 2016 with the exception of 2020, the year of COVID.
O’Brien County Conservation Director Travis Scott spent an hour explaining both the need for the current year’s budget amendment and its request for 2024 fiscal year. Scott requested the board to amend the department’s budget (authority to spend) by $13,200.00. He waived away the increased request due to increased fuel and maintenance costs. He explained the maintenance costs on previous use of household materials, faucets, door handles, and etcetera, instead of commercial products. He also noted that the pumping of septic tanks, primarily at Mill Creek, was needed more often than anticipated. He is looking to go to Paullina City sewer in 2024. The city sewer was made available at the park when AgriVision was built. He did not mention that OCCB required he take the payout for his accrued comp time, not an ordinary benefit for executives. That payout was approximately $13,000.
For the coming budget, Conservation requested an overall 10% increase. He proposed to increase part time wages by $6,000. He also talked about cabin and bin rentals being online and can be secured up to 2 years out. Those reservations can be done at “mycountyparks.com”.