Dunn County Board approves $79.3 million budget for 2017
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has approved an expense budget of $79.3 million for 2017, representing a $1 million increase over the budget reviewed at the October meeting.
The tax levy on the budget will amount to $21,591,213, said Tonya Kusmirek, the county’s chief financial officer, at the Dunn County Board’s November 15 budget meeting.
The tax levy presented at the county board meeting is the same amount as the levy included in the budget summary published in the Dunn County News October 23.
The published budget summary indicates that the 2017 budget would be $78.3 million.
The 2017 property tax levy is $695,583 more than the 2016 levy, representing a 3.4 percent increase.
Equalized value in Dunn County has increased by $99.9 million, representing a 3.63 percent increase.
The mill rate, per $1,000 of property value, will decrease by 2 cents from $7.59 to $7.57 for the 2017 budget.
State law requires that the budget summary be published not less than 15 days prior to the budget hearing.
Although Dunn County published the budget summary October 23, and the notice indicated that a public hearing would be held November 15 at 7 p.m., a budget hearing was not on the agenda for the meeting, and the Dunn County Board did not specifically hold a public hearing on the budget.
Paul Miller, county manager, spoke with the Colfax Messenger the following day and said he had talked with the county’s corporation counsel, Nick Lange, and that while it would have been better to have had the public hearing on the agenda and to actually hold a public hearing, because the county had included the budget on the agenda and had also included public comments on the agenda, the county had fulfilled the requirements.
The revenue budget approved by the county board was reduced by $15,322 to $79,402,626, and the expense appropriations budget was reduced by the same amount to $79,306,112, by a budget amendment the county board approved.
The $15,322 reduction came from the amount for the transit commission and was due to a decrease in grant funding, Kusmirek said.
The 2017 revenue budget includes $3.2 million from the county’s fund balance.
The 2017 budget expense budget includes:
• $5.77 million for administration.
• $657,531 for child support.
• $1.3 million for clerk of circuit court.
• $354,503 for the county’s attorney.
• $200,000 for the county board and commissions.
• $236,996 for the county clerk.
• $596,116 for the district attorney.
• $1.21 million for emergency communications.
• $1.5 million for environmental services.
• $289,071 for UW Extension.
• $193,049 for the Dunn County Fair board.
• $788,059 for the county’s libraries (Colfax, Boyceville, Sand Creek, and Menomonie).
• $353,892 for the medical examiner.
• $1.35 million for public health.
• $235,359 for the register of deeds.
• $6.7 million for the sheriff’s department.
• $205,104 for the county treasurer.
• $194,733 for veteran service.
• $2.7 million for solid waste and recycling.
• $3.9 million for debt service.
• $10.2 million for human services.
• $14.9 million for the Neighbors of Dunn County.
• $13.5 million for the highway division.
• $2.19 million for facilities.
• $8.1 million for self-funded health insurance.
• $790,417 for self-funded workers’ compensation.
Other business
In other business, the Dunn County Board:
• Approved appointing Carol Anderson of Sand Creek to the Dunn County Housing Authority to replace Marilyn Fruit, who resigned.
• Approved appointing Patricia Hahn, village clerk-treasurer in Elk Mound, to the Menomonie Public Library Board to succeed Kathy Peterson. The Elk Mound library is a branch of the Menomonie library.
• Approved a budget adjustment of $473,582 for the 2016 budget. The majority of the adjustment was due to state grants for the Department of Human Services in the amount of $434,184. The Dunn County Board and the county board’s committees also were over budget by $50,000, requiring an additional $25,000 for per diems and an additional $25,000 for travel. According to the explanation included with resolution, the county board has had several unexpected meetings that have accounted for being $50,000 over budget.
• Approved a resolution to adopt a 2017 pay grid, which will have a $220,000 impact on the 2017 budget. The resolution includes multiplying the amounts on the grid for a pay increase of 1.015; increasing hourly wages by 102 percent of the 2014 amount for employees earning at a rate above the pay grid that are not represented by a collective bargaining agreement; increasing payments in lieu of fringe benefits for eligible employees by 1.5 percent; increasing wages by 1.5 percent for employees not classified by 1.5 percent; establishing premium contributions for health and dental insurance for all non-represented employees. For a standard health insurance plan for a full-time employee, the county’s portion will be $2,062 per month, and the employee will pay $229. For public safety employees (sheriff’s department), the county portion would be $2,222 per month and the employee would pay $69. For a single full-time employee, the county will pay $764 per month, and the employee will pay $85. For the high deductible health insurance plan, the county will pay $2,291 per month for a family and $849 per month for a single employee, while under both the family and the single plan, the employee will pay $0 per month.
