for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. Amen. All right. Open forum is the first item today. Uh Mr. Olsen, if you would like to step up and speak, >> sir. >> Mark Olsen, 12336 Thompson Road.
Thank you, commissioners, for seriously considering to cut the housing trust fund levy. County taxpayers shouldn't have been responsible for providing a million dollars of zero
interest over 20 years to lots of apartments in Baxter. The project was already built, but the housing trust fund had a huge fund balance, and the HA wanted to lower the
balance so they could fool you into thinking they needed more tax money. They then gave lots Noatne project a million dollars with the next
to nothing interest and a 20-year payback. Furthermore, the taxpayers shouldn't have been responsible for providing over $300,000
for a privately funded project in West Brainard. This entirely privately funded My Neighbor to Love project was already being built. People were living there, but the owner
owed the contractor. So, the county HA board agreed to bail them out again with taxpayer money. The HA board has free reign to do as
they please once this board approves the trust fund levy and it's just not right. So once again, thank you for looking out for the people in the county who are
struggling every day and don't need these taxes raised because of developers, aren't able to manage their projects properly, or the HA board simply wants to give away
more of our money. Thanks again for taking a stand on outofcontrol government. Thank you. >> Thank you. Just a reminder that open forum is for someone to speak on any subject that isn't on our current
agenda. The issue that was just spoken about is on our agenda for later on. So Mr. Kerna, if you would like to come up, you're next up if you have something other than what's on our bud on our agenda.
>> I didn't see it on the agenda there. >> Well, I'll just say during CO there were a lot of programs that were implemented. We had um the housing rent help for renters and as a uh taxpayer, you know,
we had renters that needed that help. Uh they had home help for people for housing and I just appreciate everything you guys do to keep our taxes down. So, I'll just say that. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to
speak on a subject other than what's on our agenda? >> Seeing none, we'll move on to number three, which is to review and approve the minutes from September 9th, 2025. >> Motion. >> Motion by Commissioner Franzine. >> Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Coring. All any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Number four is to review and approve the agenda for today. Any additions?
>> Mr. Chair, no additions or changes. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Commissioner Franine. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Coring. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion
passes. Number five, consent agenda. >> Motion to approve. Commissioner Fanzine makes a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Coring. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I.
>> Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Move on to number six. Mr. Pence. Good morning, Mr. Chair Commissioners. >> Good morning. >> I have uh one item for your consideration this morning. If I can
find it. Uh it is a request for the plinary plat of L of Leler acres for parcel number 53040576 located in section 4 of center township. The request is to approve a conventional design preliminary plat consisting of
three lots. The total size of the parcel for subdividing is approximately 22 acres. If we can go to the map on page 46 and look at that. Amber's already there. This is the the parcel in question. It's a it's a little bit of a unique piece of property. This is the dividing line between center and
mission. So this is in center township. We have mission to the north. Uh this is upper mission here and then this would be lower mission here. There's that little channel that goes through and what they're proposing is to create three lots. There's these there's a lot here with a dwelling and over here as
well. And then there's a lot over on this side. And there is a um the this is an access coming through to get access for those for those parcels. Um the planning commission held a public hearing on August 21st of 2025 and made unanimous recommendation to the board to
approve the plunary plat of Leler acres. Uh the planning commission uh developed the finding effect found on page 52 to 53 for the board consideration as well in your packet. Uh it should be noted that the planning commission uh did approve a variance to allow the the road rightway accessing the parcel at 33 feet
where 66 ft is required utilizing existing 33 ft ingress uh egress easement through the property to the north based on the application submitted staff packet public comments and the finding of fact is recommended to approve the preliminary plan of Leler acres staff have reviewed the file and
concur with recommendation from the planning commission I'd be happy to answer any questions thank you any questions for Mr. fence. >> Yes. Since they have decided that 33 ft is enough, this will never be taken over by the county. Is that right?
>> This is in Center Township. So, this is not this this is not in first assessment. It's not a township road. This is a this would be um under the jurisdiction of Center Township. >> Okay, >> Mr. Chair. >> So, Chris,
if you look, there's these little icons all over the place on there. I'm just curious what that is. Does that mean low land? >> Wetlands. >> Wetlands. >> It's a It's a very It's a low piece of property. So that's why you see instead of having potentially six or seven lots, you see three lots because the the
location where you could actually build on it is pretty limited to the wetlands that are on the property. >> But Mr. Chair, so there is a building envelope when they're creating these lots. They're doing >> Correct. Okay. >> Correct. So >> what what if there isn't a building
envelope? Well, we say, you know what, you you can't even build here. Why would you create that? >> Correct. So, so when you look at when we're developing these uh plats, there's a minimum lot area and a minimum lot width that they have to meet depending on their lake classification. And then there's also a limit amount of buildable
area, which would be areas that are not wetlands, not setbacks, those areas where they could actually put a structure. And uh these three lots all have meet all those requirements for lot area, lot with and buildable area as well. Okay. >> Any other questions,
>> Mr. Chair? Commissioner Lee? >> Um, I thought I saw it on here somewhere, but I can't find it anymore. I just want to verify Center Township was didn't weigh in on it or they were okay with it? >> No comments from Center Township. >> Okay. I >> think that's pretty frequent that we
don't get comments from townships. >> Very. We have a few com We have a few townships in the county and we're much more active in the planning and zoning world than others. So, for sure. Yeah, >> Mr. Chair Chris, can you tell a little bit about when the townships are asked for comment? Talk a little bit about
what that process is. >> Yep. So, the first step we have in the process for any public hearing if it's a plat variance conditional intermuse permit um land use map amendment is we have the development review team meeting and that is uh where um we do that twice a month. We actually just had a a DRT
meeting. The second one for September was yesterday and uh it's a opportunity where we invite the township. If it's on the lake, we invite the DNR. If it's uh if it's on a county road, we'll invite highway department. If it's on a state road, we'll invite MIDOT. And it's an opportunity for the applicant to get
together with uh with um the different local government units that would have some potential influence and and impact over what they're trying to do. And it's an opportunity to talk about um the application and and to get some feedback on from from the different parties associated. The next step then is that they make an application. And then once
that happens, we do provide notice to the townships. they're able to either provide us um comments in writing, they can provide comments, they can actually come to the public hearing and testify that way. Uh and so there's multiple ways for the townships to be involved in the planning and zoning process. And we
encourage more. We encourage the townships to get involved. Uh and so we can get their feedback and understand really what the local because they're the closest to the people at the township level and to try to understand if there's any questions or concerns um that they might have with the different applications that we have come up.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know sometimes you all hear from townships once it hits your agenda saying, "Oh, why would you approve this or why would you go forward with this or we don't like it?" I just wanted Chris to explain a little bit that that process does ask for their input a few times before it ever gets to
your table. So, when they are approaching you after it's already here, they've already been asked for their feedback and comment. And as he mentioned, more times than not, we don't see anything that comes from the townships. I think from my chair after the fact drives me crazy. So we see that
in variances and we see that in input >> and be proactive. Come and help us make a decision, make a good decision. >> Absolutely. Commissioner >> and Mr. Chair, just to expand on that a little bit because I I have this happen often in my district that the townships
will be opposed to something but yet it'll get approved. They and I tell them that you've delegated your authority to the county as far as planning and zoning is concerned and we're going by our ordinance. If we didn't go by our
ordinance, there's a good chance we're going to be taken to court. So, when somebody from a township, I always say you can do your own planning and zoning. I see uh Doug Kern is here from uh Crowing Township. they do their
own planning and zoning. So, um I encourage any of the townships that I represent, if you feel like we're not doing a good enough job or you don't like what we're doing, I encourage those townships to do their own planning and zoning. So, thanks.
>> Thank you. Any other questions, concerns? And I would look for a motion to approve the preliminary plat of Leler acres per findings of fact discussed on 8212025. >> I will move to accept the preliminary
plat for Leler acres. >> Commissioner Lee makes the motion to approve. Commissioner Franzine seconds that motion. Any further discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes.
Thank you, Chris. County Sheriff. Who's speaking on behalf of the sheriff today? Boy, >> no. Nobody wants to talk. >> Okay. So, there's nothing going on at the sheriff's department. Good to know.
>> All right. Thank you very much. County Attorney, welcome to the fray. >> Thank you. Good morning. I don't have anything this morning unless anyone has any questions for me. >> Questions? >> Nope. >> Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you. County administrator.
>> Mr. Chair, commissioners, yesterday we had a senior management team meeting and some of the topics that we discussed on our agenda included some updated workflow resources for our supervisors. You've heard me say before that we want to make sure we're giving our folks enough tools to do their jobs
effectively. And our HR department has put together some workflow documents that allow them to have all of the necessary letters, action plans, things that they would need to have in a one-stop shop location and kind of follow a flowchart of how to address
different situations. So, they demonstrated that for us yesterday and we went over some of those options and questions that came up there. We spent quite a bit of time talking about our building inventories for the purpose of insurance with MCIT. We have a really
good handle on our capital assets with our capital plan, our fleet plan. We have a really good handle on what we have for um those types of assets that need to be insured. We have a really good plan on our technology and our equipment plan, some of those different things.
But what we don't have is a good list of what's the replacement value within our buildings as far as furniture, conference rooms, items. For instance, what's in this room? If this room were to be decimated, what would it take to replace in this particular room? So, we
had a good conversation around going through that process of getting that original inventory and then keeping it updated. So, that's a process that will be occurring here in the next few months as we work through that process. that actually came to us as a report from our
continuous improvement team. It was an item that they had identified that had a little bit of a pain point. So, we're working through what that would look like as well. And then we spent considerable time u continuing our review and revision of our performance management software template. We talked
before about the action we want to take to look at standardizing that template between departments to make sure all of our employees are seeing the same type of performance review at the end of the year. So, we are hopeful to have that revision complete by the first of the year to put that in place. So, we spent
some time looking at that. Uh, and that's all I have for you today unless anyone has any questions of me. >> Questions for the administrator? Not seeing any. So, thank you very much. Move on to number 10, which is the 2026
preliminary budget and levy adoption. >> Mr. Chair, by statute, you have to adopt your preliminary levy for the 2026 tax year by the end of September. And Nancy is here today to go over the proposal of what we have for you to consider and a
resolution for your consideration as well. So, she's going to start by going through her presentation that kind of highlights the top level touch points that you might have questions on. Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners.
See if I can run this. Perfect. Thank you, Amber. >> So, I'm here this morning to do review the 2026 preliminary levy with the county board. Some highlights that we wanted to to note here on slide one is uh the county has successfully implemented its first
long-term operational budgets for 2026 to 2030. This has been about a year and a half process in the works. This is our first five-year operational budget for the county. Uh this provides us with a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach in the budgeting
process from year to year. Um it also allows us to have improved planning for the future. The goal is is to try to reduce those peaks and valleys that we sometimes see in the budget process, whether it's on the revenue side or the expense side. and how can we reduce those peaks and valleys looking out more
long-term into the future. On July 10th, we started with our 20206 levy starting point at 53.1 million, which was an 11.31% increase at that time. We went through four rounds of budget changes
in the amount of $2.3 million. And so today, I'm presenting a preliminary levy of just over 50.8 million or 6.49% 49% increase. Uh the budget presented today does not include any recent federal legislative
changes um that we've recently heard about regarding the SNAP program and the Medicaid program in our community services office um as we're awaiting what those implications are going to be at the state level and then any potential trickle down effect to the county.
As a part of the five-year um budget process, we also look at our fund balance analysis for the next five years as well to make sure that our cash levels are within our thresholds regarding our fund balance policy. Some of our funds don't receive revenue until
June or July of each year. So, we need to make sure that we are being mindful that we have those cash reserves to to pay our bills until we receive those revenues um in June or July. So we are meeting those thresholds and those look
very healthy through 2028. We will continue to monitor that moving forward as well. Our CIP advisory committee has expanded the capital improvement plan. They had a 5-year capital improvement plan prior to this budget process. They have expanded that plan to a seven-year uh capital
improvement plan. The goal for them for next year will be to make that a 10-year capital improvement plan. So we're continuing to expand that plan as well. And then it takes a team approximately 90 staff members dedicating thousands of hours of work to accomplish this budget process.
And as we're move along in the budget process, as we do every year, we're mindful of the county's guiding mission of serving while delivering value and driving results. So we're going to start off just looking at those levy funds. So the main levy funds for the county include the general
fund, the highway fund, our community services fund, and then again our capital projects fund. So this is the org chart for those respective funds and then the different divisions below those funds that make up those funds as well.
So now we're going to look at the revenues for each for the those four levy funds. These are all compiled together. Uh so I'm comparing the 25 budget to the 2026 preliminary budget and whether there was an increase and decrease in dollar value and percentage.
So you will see the first one is the property tax levy. Again, we're presenting a 50,839,879 property tax levy for 2026. This is just over a $3 million increase or a 6.49% increase.
The next uh revenue source that we have listed is intergovernmental revenue. We're showing or projecting that to increase by $3.5 million. And those main reasons for the increase have to do with highway state aid,
police aid, city and township reimbursements for some of our cooperative highway related projects, state grant revenue that we're receiving, and also some highway federal grant revenue the highway department will be receiving for their projects as well. Other taxes is expected to
increase about $244,000. And this mainly has to do with the local option sales tax revenue that our highway department receives. And charges for services is expected to decrease about $290,000.
And this is mainly due to our jail revenue in relation to our outofcount holds. And then you can see we have miscellaneous revenue projected to increase by about $79,000. This incorporates our rents, uh some
refunds that we have, some sales of assets, and some property and casualty proceeds that we receive. Then we have our investments that are expected to increase about $168,000. And last but not least, our licenses and permits, which has a minimal increase of
just over $1,800. That mainly has to do with our land services division as well as our fleet division and their maintenance service fees that they incur. Overall revenues for 26 are expected to increase $6.8 million or
6.25% increase. This slide just gives a better visual representation of the different pieces of the pie and what revenue sources make up the larger portions of those pieces of pie. So you can see over to the right the property tax levy is approximately
43% of our revenues and our intergovernmental revenue sources make up just over 38%. So those two combined is 80 82% of our revenue for the county and then the other categories are listed
there as well. Property tax levy by fund. This is just again comparing the 2025 property tax levy with the 26. So you can see the general fund we're projecting 8.84% increase in that revenue. Highway fund
will have a 0% increase. Community services a 2.51% increase and then capital projects will remain and have a 0% increase. >> Mr. Chair Nancy, can you go back to that slide before with the pie chart? Y. So you see on the pie chart we talked about
the 44% being from the property tax levy and the intergovernmental of being the 38.8. Those are the two biggest drivers of revenue for the county. When you look at the chart that says well why is general government going up 8% in the
levy and highway is a flat levy and community services is only 2.1. When we look at that pie, the orange part is almost all highway and community services. So that's where the majority of that funding piece comes from is within our community services and
highway departments. They are the ones that are getting the majority of those state and federal grants that are making up that intergovernmental piece. The property tax levy portion, general government is almost funded exclusively through that process. other than the charge for service, the little yellow
pie piece of the pie there. There's a little bit of that that impacts in some of those areas, whether it be through um the the jail with some of their oto county holds or whatever it might be on that side. But the majority of general government is made up out of the property tax levy. That just shows a
little bit of what that disparity in the bar graph was compared to what the pie chart shows. So now we'll look at the expenditure side of those four levy funds as well. I do want to start off by noting that we have done some estimations of what our
mandated services costs are here at the county. What are those services that we're required to provide whether it be through the state or federal government. We are estimating that those mandated services equate to about 70% of the services we provide. Another 15% are
non-mandated services. However, those impact our mandated services and those would be services such as our facilities and maintenance uh services, our utility services, our IT services. They're not mandated, but it we need those to
operate. And then last but not least, 15% is what we're estimating to be our non-mandated services. So if you look at the total expenditures and you take those percentages into consideration, our mandated services equate to about $103 million of those expenditure costs
that you see on the screen. The remaining $18 million would be would equate to our non-mandated services. So that just gives you some perspective of the requirements here at the county level when it comes to the expenditures and the services we provide.
So, we have broken down for the levy funds the expenditures by category. As you can see, personnel services is our larger expenditure here at the county. Um, for 2026, it's $62.7 million. We're looking at about a $4.5 million
increase, which is 7.73%. followed. And that includes our salaries and wages, our health insurance for active and retirey employees, our pension and FICA, and also the new paid family medical leave act that we need to
implement beginning in 2026. Services and charges is our next expenditure category that's expected to increase by $10.2 million. And that mainly has to do with the highways contractor fees that they're projecting for 2026. And that relates to the
projects that they have on their slate for 2026 in in accordance with their highway improvement plan. Public aid assistance is expected to decrease by just under $600,000. And that mainly has to do with the
foster home placements budget and the preventative measures that community services has implemented to reduce those costs. Then we have supplies and materials that has about $191,000 decrease. Capital
outlay $1.6 million decrease and other expenditures which is about a $65,000 increase. And that has to do with the appropriations allocations that you all agreed to during one of our budget committee meetings. Overall, again, total expenditure is
$121.5 million, $12.3 million increase or 11.31%. So, Mr. Chair, the other expenditures, the appropriations increases Nancy was talking about that included the increases you approved for the Kitami Library, for the airport, for the
historical society. Um, which one am I, what am I forgetting? >> Airport historical society. uh Kitigami, >> those three that you approved increases for and uh as well as the ones that were just static that received the same amount that they had received in the past.
>> Amber, this isn't working. Could you go to the next slide for me, please? So again, we have a pie chart here showing the expenditure categories as well. Again, personnel services is about 51% of our expenses
and the levy funds, followed by services and charges at 29% and then we go to public aid assistance and then supplies and materials and so on and so forth. Next slide, please. So, our service center. So, this is taking it to the
next level. So, we started out at the high level, the levy funds. Now, we're going to the next level down, which is our service centers to give a little bit more detail. So we have the seven service centers here noted on the organizational chart. Governance services, admin services, public safety
services and land services. Those all fall within our general fund. So governance services we have in the different divisions under below there which are our commissioner's budget, veteran services budget, our administrator budget and our appropriations and attorneys budgets.
And then administrative services incorporates facilities, finance, elections, extension, IT, and human resources. Public safety are all of our divisions in our sheriff's office. And land services are customer service, environmental services, and assessment
services. And then again, we have our highway services broken down by their different divisions and community services as well. And then our capital improvement plan is below the capital projects in our capital projects fund. Next slide
please. So now we're going to look at the revenues based on the service centers. So instead of looking at the fund level, we're going to look at the service center service center level. So governance services revenues is expected to increase by $539,000.
Administrative services about $287,000. public safety services about $1.5 million and land services $228,000. The majority in all of those categories has to do with the property tax increase
that we're proposing today. That is what is helping to fill that difference between their revenues and expenses. Fill that gap. Then we have highway services revenue projected to increase by $2.9 million. This has to do with the local option
sales tax, state aid that they're projected to receive, intergovernmental reimbursements, and federal grants that they're expected to receive as well. Community services has just over a $1 million increase in revenue. This has to
do with property taxes and some state grant revenue that they're anticipated to receive. And last but not least, our capital projects, $163,000 increase, and that has to do allocation for our county program aid that we receive.
Again, total revenues equate to the $115.8 million, $6.8 million increase, the 6.25%. Next slide, please. And then we also have a pie chart uh breaking that out uh
based on the service centers. Uh so the larger pieces of the pie are community services at 34% followed by highway at 24 and then we go to public safety at 18%
administrative services at seven governance services and then followed by land services and capital projects. Next slide please. Then a comparison of our property tax levy by our service centers. So just
comparing again 25 to 26 in governance services. That's over a 8% increase. Administrative services over a 4% increase. Sheriff services just under a 12% increase. Land services 5.75%
increase. Highway at a 0% increase. Community services 2.51% increase. and capital projects at a 0%. Next slide, please. Next, we'll look at our expenditures for our service centers. Governance services
were expected to increase by $519,000. This relates to personnel services. The appropriations, legal fees, and medical fees. Administrative services services is expected to increase by $287,000.
This relates to personnel services, software services, and property and casualty insurance premiums. Public safety services is expected to increase $1.5 million. again relates to personnel services,
membership dues, um and software service fees and property and casualty insurance premiums. Land services is expected to increase by $228,000 and that mainly relates to personnel
services. Highway services is expected to increase just over $10 million and that relates to personnel services and contractor fees. Community services is expected to increase $1.3 million. That mainly
relates to personnel services. And last but not least, our capital projects is expected to decrease $1.6 million. And this just relates to how things are allocated in our upcoming capital improvement plan. Next slide, please. So now we have the
pie chart just breaking down those expenditures for those service centers. Uh the largest this correlates to the revenue side of the service centers. So, community services 33% followed by highway at 26, public safety
at 17, administrative at 4, governance at five, land services at four, and capital projects at four as well. Next slide, please. Capital projects. So, as I had noted as
one of our highlights, the county has had a capital improvement plan for many years. A part of that plan are the different projects that we earmark as a part of our 7-year capital improvement plan. We provided this slide just comparing our 25 to 26 budgets in
relation to our capital projects. Um the county has a CIP plan to maintain and improve capital assets without adding these costs to the operational budget. Um, it allows us to um structurally
balance our this plan because this plan utilizes county program aid revenue to offset the expenses as well as a million dollars of property tax levy is also a part of the revenue base in our capital projects fund. We're also uh seeing
revenue in there for sales of assets. uh solid waste in their respective fund um has solid waste assessment revenue to pay for their capital projects and then our landfill charges in the landfill fund um fund their projects as well. For
2026 we have 84 projects in our capital projects plan. This goes anywhere from a facilities project could be a roof replacement project of about $398,000.
We have some IT some software enhance enhancements for a project of $250,000. And then just another example is in our fleet division or department, we have a road grader expected to be purchased at just over $500,000. That just gives you an idea of what the
projects are that encapsulate the capital improvement plan. So these would be expenses that relate to public improvements, building projects, and asset purchases. So for 2025, our total CIP was at $7.9 million.
For 2026, our estimated budget is $8.4 million. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, and I think as we've moved into 2025, looking into 26, we're starting to see some of those supply chain issues that we were seeing for the last 5 years since CO started. They're starting to write themselves a little
bit. It was taking a long time to get a tandem truck or to get a squad car. And for a while, we were having to delay. I think we are slated to receive the plow truck that we ordered in 22 in 2022's
plow truck will be delivered this year. That starts to kind of put us in a behind segment a little bit is where we've been playing catch-up over the last few years because we've had the resources allocated for that purpose. But if we can't get the supply, the material, then it is pushing that down
the road a little bit. And we are starting to see this kind of balance out a little compared to what we had seen in the past several years. >> Next slide please. Now we will turn gears here to the unorganized territory. Um so just as a bit of information. So
we have the first assessment district and the second assessment district that are part of the unorganized territories. The county board is the elected governing BA body for the unorganized territory as the this territory does not have a local unit of government. It does not have a city council. It does not
have a township board. The county board is its local unit of government. So on the revenue side, so the first assessment district, um the property tax levy that we're proposing is $1,412,463. That's a $78,000 increase or 5.85%. 85%.
Intergovernmental revenue, we're looking we're projecting a one $1,886 increase, 3.5%. This mainly relates to the state gas tax allocations that we receive that gets deposited into the first assessment district.
For the second assessment district, we're proposing a property tax levy of 9 $99,999. Boy, I could have rounded that up, which is a $8,664 increase or a 9.49%.
And then intergovernmental revenue, we're expecting about a $231 increase there. And that also relates to the state gas tax allocation that we receive. >> And Mr. Chair, just for clarification, when Nancy is saying there's a 5.85% increase in the first assessment and
9.49% 49% increase in the second assessment. That is not a tax increase contrary to what a recent headline might have read in the Brainer Dispatch. That is the levy amount increase for FAD. We're talking $78,000. It is a 5% levy
increase over the 1.4 1.36 million levy that they had in 2025. that will not equate to a 5% increase in the taxes of the people who live in the fed. I just want to make sure everyone
is clear when we're talking levy percentages. Levy is the total dollar amount of the spending increase, it does not equate one for one for a tax increase. So while those percentages seem significantly high, particularly in the SAD district when we talk about
9.49% 49% and that one is much more impactful for those residents because the tax base is this big compared to in the fed where the tax base is that big. So just a little clarification on the difference between a levy and what a tax increase will see. We won't know what
that tax increase will be until we get closer to December when we actually have those values tax capacities and can calculate what that tax change would be. >> Mr. chair. Uh Deb, um in that case then when we're looking at our levy increase
of like 6.4 something, that doesn't equate to your taxes going up by 64 something. Correct. That is correct. So it's the same thing as as you're stating out here. >> Correct. The 6.49% levy increase is the percentage of spend. You heard the former
administrator talk a lot about a pie and your piece of the pie and how big the pie is. Right now, what we're talking about with the levy is the pie. How big is the pie? We're not talking about the individual slices or what your part of the pie is or somebody else's part. That
will be determined when we take the tax capacity and individual market values and all of those things get to be determined. What's the portion of the pie each taxpayer is responsible for. But it's not a onetoone equation to say if the levy is going up 6.49%
your tax is going to go up 6.4. 49%. That is not true, >> Mr. Chair. Um, so you could actually have a levy increase where it isn't doesn't impact the actual taxes to the taxpayer. >> That is correct. You could have a levy increase.
>> As you stated, the pie got bigger. >> Correct. >> And so there's more to take it out of and so your taxes may not even go up even with an increase in levy. >> That is correct. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that for me. >> Next slide, please. On the expenditure
side for unorganized territory in the first assessment district, we'll start with services and charges, $435,000 increase. Uh for both the FAD and the SAD, the services and charges increase is mainly due to highway maintenance costs and construction contractor fees
for the projects that they have earmarked in those respective districts. Other expenditures in the first assessment district is actually projected to be a decrease of just over $5,000. Um other expenditures in both of those districts are due to interfund transfers
that go out come out of the unorganized territory and go into the highway fund to capture the costs that the highway department has incurred for doing maintenance for doing small construction projects for any of their labor for their personnel staff and the work that
they do out there. There is an annual transfer that takes fa takes place out of the unorganized territory fund and goes into the highway fund every year. And Mr. Chair, really in the unorganized territories, they have pretty much three expenses. They have road maintenance,
road projects, whatever it might be, they have uh fire service contracts that are set by the districts that are providing that fire service for them. They have election services and um a little bit of administrative services
from the finance team for that work that they do. Other than that, there's not much that's associated with the expenses in those two divisions. >> For one sec, you know, it's not a pretty subject, but when we look at the first assessment district and the growth that we see out there, fastest growing area
in our county, the concern becomes water and sewer over the course of time. And we know that there's a lot of lowland out there in that particular area of the county. And so I as we look at the development out there,
you think of 371, Highway 77, Wise Road, you look at the stress that's going to happen with septic systems and water quality out there. It has to be a concern of the board for the next 20 years of how we handle the development
out there and what that's going to look like. So I I just put that on the radar. It's uh not a fun subject to talk about when we talk 20 years out, but it's certainly coming and it's going to have to be addressed at some point.
>> Nancy, >> so then just to mention to the second assessment district again, services and charges about $8,500 increase and then those other expenditures just under a $1,500 increase. Next slide, please. Then we have the
comparison of the property tax levy for the unorganized territory. So you can see again the first assessment district we're presenting a 5.85% levy increase and the second assessment district the 9.49% increase.
Next slide, please. And then last but not least is a a excerpt of the resolution that was in your packet uh that we're presenting to you today. Total tax levy for Crowing County of 50,839,879. Uh property tax levy for the unorganized
territory first assessment district of $1,412463. Second assessment district uh property tax levy of $99,999. And then we also have included in that resolution the Crowing County HR tax levy of the $412,626
for your consideration. >> Mr. Chair Commission, >> this is probably a question for Deb. Um I would like to discuss a little more on the HA funding. Would it be would it be best maybe to approve move that separate and and vote on that separately? Can can
that be done or do you want it done as the whole thing? We have it listed in the resolution as a whole piece. Uh we've traditionally in the past taken it as one total action. However, you have the authority to do whatever you would like to consider it
however you would like to do. So it is an option you can consider. >> Okay. I would I would like to um u discuss it and I think right now I have no problem with the tax levy revol resolution as it sits except for the area of the HR and I would make a motion
um in order to have discussion I will make a motion that we go from a zero housing trust fund to a $200,000 housing trust fund added on to the um HA levy. I'll make that motion.
So, administrator, does that qualify as a um amendment? >> You haven't adopted anything on this resolution as of yet. So, you can make whatever change you would like to in this regard at this point.
>> So, we have a a motion to move the HR to a $200,000. So it would basically change the dollar amount on the Crowing County HRA resolution on the tax levy from 412,626
to 612,626 is what the action would take in that regard. >> And I'm making the motion in order to get a second in order to have open discussion about it. So question for you is
if we didn't move it to a separate one >> right now you're not moving it to a separate one >> we would we could still have the motion in the second and discussion >> correct >> about the entire >> correct >> proposal here or >> correct >> so
just for ease of dealing with this I'm going to ask that you would withdraw. >> I would withdraw that motion. I would love to move it to a or like to move it to a you know separated. I don't know if I have the ability to do that.
>> So, Mr. Chair, if I'm hearing you right, you would like on the Can you put the resolution on page 55? So down at the bottom you want the after where it says total second assessment district you want to take that next be it further resolve the board of
commissioners the following preliminary property tax levy for the Crowing County H to be set for 26. You want to remove that from this existing resolution. >> Correct. >> Okay. And my point is that
not doing that, we get to the same place by getting a motion and a second on the entire resolution. And then we have discussion and we can change whatever we want at that point with an amendment. >> Mhm. >> And a vote
>> up, down, sideways, whatever direction it goes. And we accomplish the same thing. >> Right. You don't have to remove it from the resolution. and his previous action did not remove it from the resolution. >> And that that was that was my according to what I understand that would be my
intent because I have no problem with everything else. I just wanted to have some open discussion again on the housing trust fund. >> Correct. >> Okay. So I made the motion. >> You made the motion. Is there a second? >> Is there a second?
>> Can you repeat the motion again? It was to separate this off. >> No. >> No. The the motion is to change the be it further resolved for the HR levy to change the Crowing County HR levy from 412,626
to 612,626. >> I think he's separating it off. >> No, he No, not according to Deb. That's why I wanted to clear have Deb clear it up for us. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, it's not separating it out. It's leaving it in the same motion. It's changing that dollar amount. Okay.
>> That's the motion before you at this time. And I'll second that motion for discussion. Thank you. Oh, you have to say motion in a second. So, open for discussion. Okay. Um, one of the things I wanted to
talk about is the fact that when we did our consent uh uh our consensus on our county of the whole, um, it was brought out that we would take it from $400,000 down to zero. Um, I did receive some phone calls in regards to that and one of the calls I got was from somebody who
actually sits on the board, my appointee who sits on the H board and that's Tyler Gardner. Tyler Gardner is also the mayor of the city of Peekquat and he's also a business owner up in the area. He understood the fact that in our budget time that we needed to maybe look at
moving it down a little bit. He did not agree with the fact that we would take it to zero. And some of the reasons are is because the HA well one thing is Crowing County has been a leader in this area. This board had put in a housing trust fund back years ago and at that time there was only seven other counties
in in Minnesota that has a housing trust fund. Uh since then and this was on that was in 2023. Um as of today there are um there are 23 counties that are looking that do a housing trust fund because we were the leader and we did do that.
There are other counties that came in to do that. Counties normally as a whole don't usually get involved in housing, but in today's economy, in today's world, and with the challenges that a lot of our counties, especially our regional counties face in in um in in
workforce housing, the counties have had to kind of step up to the plate because the cities can't afford to do it all. So, the counties have also stepped up the plate. In Minnesota, there's actually 53 housing trust funds out there. Um 23 of them being counties and
the other 30 of them being actually the cities. Um by staying in the housing trust fund, it gives us to be a placeholder there. the um however the state does their funding, the state does look upon when we ask for extra money for our housing trust fund, they look
housing, they actually look to see what counties do the housing trust fund and those counties stand above the rest of the counties looking for trust dollars. Um, remember housing development is economic development. And in the case of of what
we have done and what the numbers I've been able to get, Eric is actually on vacation, so I've had other staff people help me out with numbers. Some of those have I think most of them have come to all of us. The um the monies that have been invested in the housing trust fund have brought in a little over $100,000
in increased taxes to to Crowing County. um that one property that has been brought up numerous time brings in about $73,000 in in in taxes. That's just in taxes. It also provides places for workforce housing for people who are
coming into this community to work here that we've hired in this community that cannot find a place to live. This is not money for for um low rent housing. This is not money for that. This is money for subsidized not subsidized stabilized
housing as in the case of lots of nebatany that allow those h properties because we're involved in it. We can keep a tax a rental at a set rate that's a lower than market. Um that that is how
I look at it. AMC actually did a a little bit of a seminar. The three of us actually attended it. I think Jory was also there where the counties were sitting there talking about how they're doing and what they're doing with their housing trust fund and how they're actually partnering not only just with these cities but how they're partnering
with private companies to help entice to bring in that workforce housing. So um and also I'm also a a father of six children. Three of them have housing. two of them have some real challenges with their housing and I have one son
who is actually doesn't have any housing. He is he is living on the street. So this is really personal and really important to me. So I do not want to see the the county who has taken a real lead in this area back up and go
down to zero. So, my uh my motion is to increase the HA by $200,000 and that $200,000 we put into the trust fund. >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Schmer. Would you come up and speak
to the rehab portion of of the uh HA? >> Thank you, Chair Barrows, members of the commissioners of the board. Um, as Mr. Barrows mentioned I'm the housing rehab coordinator for the HRA. We also work with the Crowing County HR to administer
some of those rehab programs. Um the housing trust fund is one tool we have in our toolbox for housing rehab. Everything that we do for housing rehab is income based. So people who are in the lower end of the income spectrum
will qualify for certain housing rehab programs. Then we have another option. So the lowest end was our Minnesota Housing Finance Agency program. Those are state dollars. All of the housing rehab we do is taxpayer money to be good stewards of that. We make sure that um
we're following those guidelines that um the rehab we do cannot be cosmetic. It has to actually be health and safety driven. There has to be reason for it. It's rehab. It's not remodeling. So we can't add a kitchen. We can't um add on.
We can't put in solid surface countertops. Essentially, we can put back what that person has or if there's mobility issues, we can help with those. Uh Minnesota Housing Finance Agency offers $37,500 for that. To qualify for that, a single
person household can make about $27,000 per year. That pretty much takes us to people that are on social security. The other tool we have in our toolbox is our small cities program. These are community development block grant dollars, CDBG funds that trickle down
from the non-entitlement communities. An entitlement community is a county with a population over 200,000 people or a city with a population over 50,000 people. They automatically get funding. The rest of the counties and cities have to apply for that funding that's left over from
the CDBG funds that are allocated. um there you can make up to approximately $56,000, but that is an extremely extremely targeted uh area. Those funds have to be applied for. We currently have a small
cities grant going on in the city of Brainard. Um but it's a small portion of the city. It It's not even the city as a whole. It's definitely much more I would equate it to kind of to when uh Mr. Pence is using the
pointer to point there. it it's so small and targeted that it's not available for many people. The MHFA funds that we're allowed to uh distribute we can do throughout our county and actually in other counties. The housing trust fund gives us one tool for the people that
don't qualify for those other programs. Um some of the rehabs we currently have going on, we have a 8 unit apartment building in Oakland Township that's applied for funding. We're looking at developing a scope of work um as it was mentioned earlier that does allow us to
keep those rents and at least 51% of those units. Those tenants have to qualify based off their income and then their rent that landlord has to agree not to raise those rents over the term of that loan. Um they do have to certify every year that their their tenants do
in fact meet that. So, it's not that they could take these funds and then and use them to improve the property, raise their rents, and then somebody whose income limited doesn't have a home anymore. So, that is just kind of a a
brief synopsis of how we use the housing trust fund for housing rehab in that tool. And again, it is kind of our last resort. We try to help other means that we have um but we're also uh
have a housing trust fund rehab application um where it's a a single gal. She is working two jobs. She needs 23 windows replaced in her home. There is lead in her home. This is in Crosby. Um so the scope of work we're doing is to replace it with actually 13 windows.
Combine some of them. Uh she does have some rodents who are chewing through her sophets and fascia. So, we'll get those patched up and and because of the lead, we'll end up putting, you know, pre-finished steel over that. So, those are some of the types of rehabs that we're seeing um that the people
that have need um sometimes that's the only option we have for them. It it is kind of our last resort. And again, all the funds that we do lend out our taxpayer funds. We want to be good stewards of what you guys entrust us with. We do make sure that we adhere to those program guidelines that they're
health and safety driven or extending the life of the homes. We don't do a lot of we're never going to be on HGTV. We do roofs. We do windows. We do a lot of siding, soften fascia. We just It's not very sexy or exciting, but feel it's
it's much needed for those that do come to us. Is there any other questions? Sometimes you don't even put a shower in for people or a bathroom. Correct. There isn't enough money to do. >> We did have a It was a housing trust
fund loan. There was a Gen Crosby who had applied and her tub was actually broke, but her floor joists were sagging and she had some lead issues and so we have to address those lead issues and take away that kind of concern. And then
the seagen floor joists were a higher priority and and we ran out of funding. So she she we didn't end up replacing that shower. No. And isn't it true too that when we rehab we're not adding to the housing stock in
our county. We're we're refurbishing what we currently have, but we're not really adding to it. >> It it maintains what we have. Correct. Um, so we don't add a unit, but we don't lose one. So, um, I I did receive a call actually from
a contractor one time and asked if we could help a gal. She was reached out to him to take payments to re-roof her house cuz she had water dripping through her living room ceiling. And he just said, "I can't take payments." And as a business owner, I can totally understand that. You just can't afford to to do
that. Um uh I was just in a home up in uh the Peekquat Lakes area. There was staining on the ceiling there. The gal just reached out for a roof. She does have, you know, gaps I can see out the bottom of her door. She has some other needs,
but her concern was just the roof. So I we we don't add, but we don't lose. So I >> Right. >> We maintain, I guess. >> So I I have a housing study here that was done in 2020. that's free. Any of us can read that if you want. That
identified that Crowing County in the next 15 years, so you got to move back away. So maybe the next uh 12 13 years, we need 4,800 additional housing units for our area. So, I I think that and thank you, John, for being here, but I'd
like to bring up Tyler for a second to talk about workforce housing and the need from the business community because the business community has identified that a many of their workers don't even live within 10 minutes of
their of their work site. Some don't have transportation. Public transportation as we all know is an issue in the Brainer Baxter area, but even more so out in the greater county area. So Tyler, >> tell us what you hear from the business community and from recruitment where
you're trying to bring in people that are qualified to do some of the jobs that are out there. So you think of some of the manufacturing businesses and that. >> Yeah. What are you hear? >> Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Barrow. And good morning, commissioners. First and foremost, I as we watch and go through this process, I just if I could
stand up and give a like a standing ovation to Nancy and her team, the incredible this is incredible. You guys do the amount of hours that you put into this budget process is it's great job. I've had the privilege of working with Nancy for a number of years and the work that they continue to do and she
continues to do is incredible. So, thank you for that. Um, and all of us, we'd love to see John on HDTV, wouldn't we? I mean, yeah, we would, John. But to address your question and and to really to talk about the housing trust fund as well from my lens, um, you know, our job
here is to continue to bring in new businesses and bring in new employees into into Crowing County. Uh, Commissioner Lubkkey talks about this on a pretty regular basis. We're one of the fastest growing counties outside of the sevenount metro in the other 80
counties. We are growing. all of these people can't live on the lake and they don't live on our lakes and as much as they would like to, that's really not an option um just because of the price point. As our businesses continue to grow and as we continue to draw businesses in, you know, we look at a
new Amazon distribution center, we look at QuickRip coming in, Quick Trips will they will create 25 full-time jobs in one location. They want to bring in five more locations. Where are those people going to live? It's very very challenging because if we look at our
apartment complexes today, market rate for a two-bedroom apartment is about $1,800. $1,800 is a pretty significant impact on a person that's making I mean, even if you're making $45 $50,000 that the numbers don't add up. We need
more affordable housing here. our businesses as Clouse Stamping expanded last year um added 110,000 square feet to their facility, they received some state funding and that state funding hinged on creating 65 new jobs. Those 65
new jobs had to be created over a 7-year period. And as we look at that, those are jobs that are people coming in making anywhere from 19 to 22 to $23 an hour. Affordability doesn't work there. We need this type of
tool in our toolbox to continue to build that out. And as we talk about the loss of Noatne and that becomes a pretty big hot button and I understand that, but that was also a $15 million project, right? Well, as as we've talked about, 60% of those rents in that building are
controlled. Commissioner Lupkey addressed that. 60%. So at 60% of those units are under rent control. You have studio apartments in there that are renting for $1,000 a month right now. And the people that are occupying that property, as we talk about that, it's
been talked about over the years. The people that are occupying that property range anywhere from they've got 75year-old uh folks that are on social security living there and are able to live there and afford that because of the rent controls that are in place because of the money that they access
through the housing trust fund. Was it a lot of money? Absolutely. Should there be some things that we probably talk about long term as to how that money comes back and maybe comes back quicker? Sure, absolutely we should. I think it's a I think it's a probably a sticking
point. But for us to continue to grow in this area and the jobs that are that are continuing to come to our communities as we need these tools and we need this access to additional funding and and I appreciate the the motion to add the not
to bring it to zero to add the $200,000 I think is incredibly important. this project that we're looking at here downtown that was on the old Thrifty White property. I don't know that that project will get done without the assistance of the housing trust fund. They were looking at everything from
low-income tax credits to um state income tax, not state income, but but state tax dollars that are coming into this project. They had 11 different funding sources that were going to put into that project alone. And the housing trust fund was one of them. And this is a big company, you know, and but they
understand that they need these types of incentives to bring these in. I mean, all of our communities are looking at incentives. Peekquat Lakes has a has when they were looking at bringing in housing and affordable housing on available lots in that community, their
city went ahead and said, "We're going to wave the sack and whack fees. We're going to wave permitting fees to make it a more affordable piece of property for someone to build on." You know, so those are the types of tools. Brainer offers that. We've other incentives in place,
but the utilization of the housing trust fund for the work that we do continues to be an extremely important tool. And I had a developer two weeks ago call and say, "What incentives are in place? We want to build in greater Minnesota. We want to build in one of the counties
that's growing as quickly as yours is because we understand that people need housing there." And I talk through these things. We talk about the incentives that are in place and we talk about the housing trust fund. I can't tell you the number of people that have requested to see the housing study and that was
commissioned by the HR and by the people that you all appoint to the HA. They commissioned that and it's an important tool for us because we can now address with developers. This is what we're looking for. This is we need this type of housing. We need affordable housing.
So from my lens, this is an extremely important tool that we have. And as Commissioner Lubkkey addressed that the counties that are have have done this to this point, Crowing County, Good Hugh County, which is north of Rochester, um those folks are working in Redwing,
they're working in Rochester, they're working in the Twin Cities if that's available. Lake County, Ottertale County. These are smaller counties that are addressing this problem locally. and we are we were one of the leaders in this which was extremely important for
us to continue to address the the growth that we have here. >> Thank you very much. >> Absolutely. So when I when I look at uh workforce development and I think about Crowing County and what are we doing to
address these this housing issue for the workforce and I think do we want to go backwards from the efforts we've made through the car's act the ARPA dollars where we invested in our local
businesses to retain the current group of employees we have but to also go out and find additional employees that will come in that are qualified to do these jobs in our area. So, I think that it's it's important that we understand that
this is one piece of the pie, if I might use that, to bring housing to a more affordable situation. The median house in Crowing
County now sells for $330,000. If you listen to what it costs or what you'd have to make as a salary to afford that house, $98,000. And I, you know, I anybody in the room here make $98,000.
It's pretty tough. So that's the reality of what's happening in our our county. And I know for developers, the cost of land, the cost of supplies to build these things is going up. There's a gap. There's an affordably affordable gap when it comes to once
they put the building up and nobody can afford it, what are they going to do? So, we have to look at how are we a partner in the process of addressing the housing issue in Crowing County. And I think Crowing County, we want to be the leader. We want to be able to attract
workers in our in our county. We go out there and we beg for people in the sheriff's department. What what do we have to house them if they come here? We had one gentleman, he did find housing, came from New York to
be a sheriff's deputy. These are the kind of people that we're we're trying to find out there that'll come and fill the positions that we need filled in Crowing County. This isn't section 8 housing we're talking about, folks. This is everyday people just like you folks sitting out
there. Let's be realistic that when it comes to the gap, we have to be a partner in this if we want our county to flourish. If we want to go backwards and and not uh be the leader, not be proud of who our county is, we
can go to zero. We can do that all day long. it won't get us the results that I think we should get and that you folks deserve out there. So, um, with that, is there any other remarks?
>> Well, just a question, Mr. Chairman. You called up a couple of the people out of the audience. I'm just wondering, it seems like some taxpayers have taken time out of their day to come up here, and I'm just wondering if you're going to hear from them. If they would like to come up, I would
>> either for or against. >> Four or against. Mr. Kern. >> Yeah. I didn't realize this was on the agenda. I thought it was already done. So, um, as a land owner and a landlord, we keep our property. We just rented an
apartment for 550 and we keep our things low and we count on you guys keep our taxes down. Uh we have a son who's um looking at building and you're right the cost of everything has gone skyrocketed. >> Yep.
>> But what the government giveth the government can taketh away. And when I look at when the the uh projects were built over here on uh 28th Street >> and the county was on this the uh city of Brainard was on the hook to finish
the project. You know, I don't know if you guys remember that or not, but you had all these rentals that were low. They were they were low. The rents were low in Northeast and Southeast. When everything funneled over there, it was like a vacuum. It created a vacuum in
Northeast and Southeast. And you know, because you're competing with these these uh these prices that he was talking about, it's like I don't know how a kid can even start out. but to um take away private enterprise to the
private uh sector where I I don't really have the answer for it. But um I know that keeping my taxes low makes my tenants happy because I don't have to raise their rent and I do everything I can to not raise their rent as a
landlord. Um these people really really appreciate having decent rent. A,000 bucks is not decent, you know, for a two-bedroom. That's just not >> true. >> You know, that's just not acceptable. But I don't know how you fix that. But
adding more money to the HA and doing things like that, I don't see how that's going to fix it either. That's like putting a band-aid on a dead elephant. I I just I don't know how you do that. But private enterprise is where it needs to happen. And I don't know how we connect
with that. >> So I think the the challenge, Mr. occurring is that the uh the private developers are stuck with those higher land prices, higher supplies. It is a challenge. You know, I readily admit
that this is a problem that has a >> y >> tough solution to it. And then affordability, you know, we're talking about several different income levels in there. So, it's it's not an easy subject to try to figure out, right? >> But to stick our head in the sand is not
a solution either. So say that >> yeah, there has to be a way to think outside the box. There there has to be a way >> and I do I do appreciate, you know, how you run your properties and you keep the rents low and and there's certainly a segment of our population that utilizes
that and I hope you're successful at that. >> We don't have a big turnover because the rent is low and we work Yeah. I mean, I do everything I can on the building myself to keep the rents low. Uh my son's looking at uh building a house and when we look at he looked at a couple
houses down the street from us. One was 190,000. It's a a modular a manufactured. I take that back. It's a manufactured and it's from 1981. And then I look on the other side of the street just down the road and they wanted uh 320,000 for
it. It sold for 160 a year and a half ago. And the housing market is crazy. It's crazy right now. >> And to find a home for a young person, um, I'm not quite sure how you do that with the with the dollar amount that
they're making it, but to subsidize everything is not good either. You can't be subsidizing everything because that that's going to change the market, too. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Olsen. I addressed this a couple years ago.
When when do we tell government to get in the housing market? I I get what you're talking about, Mr. Baros. I totally disagree with it. Uh that's not where our money should go.
Um Doug was talking about the Oaks project. I remember that mess. Now, H has done a good job in that. And the Oak project is right down on Oak Street. Um
just across from the gas station there. They've done a great job. I worked for the city when that thing started. Okay, that was a mess. The city got in there and they thought they were going to have this good thing
and it cost the city a ton of money and H turned around, took it back and now they got some housing in there. There's no question about that. But who are we as a government to say we have to build housing
for people at the HR? As I stated in my opening remarks, uh, and as Mr. Glenn, I think his name is, uh, addressed it. That's a mess. And they did a poor job. I've looked at
the H. I I don't think they do a good job. Now, in some things they do, but where do we where do we get off saying county boards, city boards are supposed to address housing?
Are we going to go back to LBJ in ' 64 when he started building all these complexes? No. No. That's not you guys's job. You guys's job is to plow the roads, take care of the police
department or the sheriff's department obviously and supply things. It's not your job to supply housing. I rest my case. I think the the one thing that I would would throw in there is that
first of all, some areas of our county have criminalized homelessness. There there's the potential to increase homelessness if we don't be a partner in trying to solve the problem. Doesn't mean we throw money at it, but it does mean how do we solve the problem?
>> And how how one second. It's been acknowledged that Some areas of our county don't want homelessness in their jurisdiction. So, how do we address that issue? I
mean, there's there's outcroppings, I think, of community services, they're going to have to deal with this. So, you can either pay it up front or you can pay it on the backside. It's a it's a dilemma. Seriously, I >> I don't disagree. It is a dilemma, but
it but it's not you guys's job to fix that particular dilemma. >> So, if the people are homeless and they're in your neighborhood in South Long Lake there. >> Mhm. >> How would you propose to address that? >> I would call the sheriff and tell them
to move them out. >> And where would they move them to? Well, >> down the road to another township and then that township's going to be calling or we stick them in our county jail and you pay the price for that. >> Well, it uh it's come into the
jurisdiction of an area that doesn't that has criminalized it. >> Mhm. >> But that's we're talking about workforce housing here and I don't want to get get have that lost in the conversation because we're not talking about necessarily there are working poor people out there that are
>> Oh, no question about it, Steve. There's there's poor we we aren't totally going to solve that problem. >> Right. >> But as far as the housing trust fund, have you looked at it and studied it? >> Mhm. >> Uh uh okay. Do you remember my statement
was uh the housing trust fund when they gave that million to L Noatne? You know what they were doing? They were going to increase it just like I said. Why? Why did they give that money for no interest? I Can you guys give me I'll
take a million dollars. Would you give Would you give me a Well, you're on blade. Would the housing trust fund give me a million dollars? >> I don't want to get into the deal. >> I will say this, this entire board addressed that issue with the H and
expressed our concern about that and disappointment about that. So I think the board >> as a whole that they've taken some action to >> okay >> take a look at how they >> That's fantastic. Now now you have to take a look at how why you guys think
it's okay. And I think there's just two of you that think it's okay that you need to go build housing for people. That's that's not your job. That's Sorry. Well, we aren't building housing, but
and I will say this, what I meant, Steve, >> when it's a 400,000 or with the with a $400,000 house, which there are many of in our county, it's $6 a year >> for 400 I'm sorry, or $300,000 house
principal. It's not about >> fine $300,000. This is for the public here. $300,000 house, $400,000 going in there and we're talking $200,000. It's $6 a year.
Extrapolate that. It becomes $3 a year for $200,000. I just make that point. And with that, I'll end discussion. >> Nobody else. >> Is there anybody else? Yes, ma'am. And I think I have one more.
>> Hi. Thank you, Mr. Chair and commissioners. My name is Jessica Tab and I'm a resident of Baxter. Um, since we're just giving opinions today, I just wanted to say that I recognize that your job and the H's job of making these decisions is difficult
as as we've alluded to that there's not an easy decision. There's not um a very clear way forward. So it is my opinion that you and the H take these decisions very seriously and weigh the negatives
and the positives in in the real world there is not perfect. Um I believe that the HR has come the conclusion that they have come to is that the positives outweigh the negatives for what this does for the community. Unfortunately,
if we want the good workers, we want the teachers, we want the cops, we need the affordable housing. We feel like we shouldn't have to provide that for people, but unfortunately, it seems that we do because how else is this happening in the
community? Where else is this going to come from? So, I can see where steps are taken to help make some of this happen for the the everyday worker in our community. So, thank you. Thank you very much. And I think there's one more
name. And I know you live in Baxter, so >> yes, Sher Soulstead from Baxter. Um, and this is not my calling to public speaking. Um, couple thoughts. Uh, first of all, the lower the taxes, the more affordable the rent could be. We we know
that. But we also talked about um thinking out of the box. And this is so far out of the box that nothing will happen with this idea at this moment, but I just want to throw it out there. Um, as an occupational therapist, I did home care and I would
go into homes where there would be one person uh, elderly and they had a um, very goodiz home that was their home and they weren't going to leave it. There's a lot of emotion with that all of that. But
um I I thought about actually when I traveled in Germany and uh there these two go together. There would be a bed and breakfast kind of place that you could go and stay instead of a hotel run by a widow, a war widow typically and
they would use their home for industry of sorts. And I'm proposing that these two could meld together if our county would offer resources to things like
churches that could help people um fill the gap. Um, for example, if you had an elderly person who wants to stay in their home and they would like to rent it out, uh, rent a few rooms out to
people, but they're not going to want to do that cuz they don't know the logistics of how to make that happen. They don't know how to, uh, filter out safe people versus people who would be unsafe. Maybe there are tools that the
county could offer to facilitate some of that. because I truly think there are a lot of places where people could live that um are available but the people who own the homes would not be comfortable renting out a room etc without more
knowledge and more skills. So perhaps there's a way to facilitate that. The other thought is that if we're looking at housing for people who are quick trip employees, perhaps we're not looking at bringing the right kind of industry that
can help people afford the housing that they need. I don't know if we need more quick trips. I I think that's actually something to think about, but look at the industry that we're calling here so that we can help facilitate a better wage for people.
>> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Well, I'd just like to read the statute or part of the statute. Um, Minnesota State statute 462A 2011, housing trust fund account, um, subdivision 2V. The
housing trust fund account must be made used for the benefit of persons and families whose income at the time of initial occupancy does not exceed 60% of the medium income as determined by the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Now, when um Mr. Sharpener was here. He said that the median income in Crowing County was 57,000. Which means that we're going to be helping people under 34,000. I don't believe that any of the stuff
that's been talked about today talks about people who are under $34,000. 34, you know, that's that's not very much money. >> It's terrible. And even if I mean
>> but 34,000 commissioner to your point, you know, that's what about $165.5 an hour and that's assuming that it's a full-time job. That's and there's many jobs out there that >> Yes. But on on that kind of an income,
you can't afford a $350 or $400,000 home. >> My point. and and so >> I don't believe that we're talking about what the statute actually says we can do. to Commissioner Franzine's point.
>> Commissioner Lee, >> I had a conversation with um a young gal at the gas station not too long ago and her and her husband have two kids and they actually looked at getting into LA Noatne and they both are in the
workforce both working full-time and he has a part-time job and they couldn't afford to get into Lafa Noatne. Not to pick on Latney, but that's where they she brought it up and mentioned it. And to your point, Commissioner Frenzy, that's exactly the issue is we're not
meeting those needs. So why would we continue to fund it? >> Well, I I would have to reply to that, Commissioner Lee, and say that for a number of those units, we are meeting that need. If there's no vacancy at
those lower rental rates, then yes, they're looking at market rates, which that's a whole different number that individuals have to look at. >> Are we going to put a family of four in a studio apartment? >> Again, uh Mr. Glenn spoke of a a studio
apartment for $1,000 a month. Are we going to put a family of four in a studio apartment? I would prefer not to, but >> pretty >> pretty sure they'd prefer not to as well. >> But the the point is from my perspective, this is just my
perspective, Commissioner, is that if we do nothing, we don't address the issue either. That family is going out on the street. If we do something, we may address that issue. We will address some issue.
Doing nothing gets us nothing. I mean, that's a simple math problem for me. Go ahead. >> I just add one thing. To me, that's throwing money at the wall and hoping that something sticks and that doesn't work for me. That's taxpayer money.
>> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Coy, >> so I got a story for you. Um, down in my neck of the woods there, used to be St. Matias, now it's Long Lake. The uh the ladies down there, there's a book club. So about once a month the the
ladies go and do their book club thing and then the husbands go out for hamburgers, not to Green Lantern. Sorry about that, Mark. Uh not not you, but Mark Gangstead. We went down to last trip cuz it was $5 a burger. And so I'm
sitting at a table of about eight guys that are all these are all retired guys. And and um actually Stephanie Shook's dad was there, Bill. And Bill says, "What's going on at the county?" So I explained to him, we were in the budget
process and I actually thought, you know what? This is going to be a good time for me to talk about this housing trust fund. And I explained it to them of what this is and the money and how it how it goes out and supposedly comes back in.
And every one of them said to me, "I paid my mortgage for 30 years and now I have my mortgage paid and I'm on a fixed income social security." And you say, "Well, it's only $6."
Well, I hear that when the school wants to pass a referendum. They say, "Well, it's only $20." But you know what? It all adds up. And for these seniors that are on a fixed income, it's hard to explain to them how we're taking money away from them. They don't understand
how this helps them pay their bills and keep in their home and stay in their home. And um I just said, "Well, I'll be voting not to fund this because it just doesn't make sense to to at least a
majority of my constituents." So, I'm ready to vote if you want to. >> Any other comments, Commissioner Fran? >> Table right now is to add the 200,000. >> Correct. >> Understand the motion?
>> Yep. So all in favor signify by saying I. I >> I. >> Not in favor. Same sign. >> No. No. >> Motion fails. >> Okay. Although I'd like to see the levy
lower than 6.49%. I would make the motion to approve the 2026 preliminary levy resolution for Crowing County and unorganized territory as in the packet. Second
>> motion by Commissioner Franzine, second by Commissioner Coring. Discussion. I would just say at this point that when it comes to our business community, so our chamber of commerce and those individuals out there in uh Blade who's
out there trying to find professionals that'll come here and work that uh we're sending a loud message that we don't care about the housing dilemma that we have in Crowing County. You know, Steve, that's your opinion.
>> And in order to follow statute 462, it's not the working people that we want to come here that were that we should. This is for low income, 60% of the median income. If you're coming here to work, you're not making 60% of the
median income. So you you're not in I don't believe you're interpreting the statute the way it was intended to be used. >> Thank you, Commissioner Lee. >> You know, to to make a statement like
that is to turn a blind eye to everything else that we are doing to try to help our economic growth in this county. And I I disagree with that statement. Any other comments? >> I will say that the I believe that the
housing trust fund, how it's used and how it's supposed to be used is a tool in the toolbox to either keep people in housing or to help to get housing here. And that's where I'll leave it at. Thank you.
>> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Not in favor. Same sign. I >> I >> that motion passes. I would look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved.
>> Motion by Commissioner Franzine. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Coring. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Not in favor. Same sign. >> That motion passes. We are adjourned.