By LeAnn R. Ralph
HUDSON — The St. Croix County Board has adopted a set of priorities for the 2023 budget.
The administration committee has discussed the challenges facing St. Croix County for 2023, including the state’s levy limits and service demands by county residents, said Carah Koch, county board supervisor from Hudson, at the St. Croix County Board’s May 3 meeting.
The priorities include the structural deficit in the budget, employee compensation, health insurance, new positions and operating expenses.
St. Croix County must serve residents in the most effective and efficient way possible, Koch said.
Regarding the tax levy increase for the government center expansion and remodeling, Koch said the committee had asked members of the administration to look at the levy rate, and after all the information was available, to reduce the levy if possible.
The first step in creating a budget for 2023 is adopting priorities that will give direction to the department heads, said Ken Witt, county administrator.
If department heads want to add new positions, those requests are due in June, he said.
By the end of July, department heads will have made their budget requests, and then the county administrator and the chief financial officer will work through the details of the budget in August, Witt said.
Quite a lot of effort goes into balancing the budget because there are generally requests for several million dollars more than there is funding available, he said.
The standing committees will go through the budget in September, and a balanced budget will be presented to the county board in October for review, Witt said.
A public hearing about the budget will be held at the November meeting, and then the county board will adopt the budget, he said.
Rick Ottino, county board supervisor from Hudson, said he would be asking for a 10 percent reduction in every line item in the 2023 budget with the exception of the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department and the justice department.
Inflation is costing families $400 more per month, and the county is spending too much money on the government center, he said, adding that is why he voted against the government center expansion and remodeling.
The St. Croix County Board unanimously approved the budget guidelines and priorities.
Earlier in his report to the county board, Witt pointed out that St. Croix County has $7 million left in American Rescue Plan Acts (ARPA) to allocate.
The county’s second payment of ARPA funds is expected to be received in May, and the county board will be discussing and voting on the allocation of the funds sometime this summer, he said.
As for St. Croix County’s opioid settlement of $2.8 million, the first annual payment is expected in July, and the county board also will be discussing and deciding on how to spend the settlement money, he said, noting that the payments are set up now to be paid out over 18 years.
