By Brenda Erdahl
Wright County commissioners met for their final regular county board meeting of the year, Tuesday, Dec. 19 where they approved on a 4-1 vote, the budget for 2024.
This action was the final step in the 2024 budget cycle. According to County Administrator Lee Kelly, Minnesota counties have until Dec. 30 to adopt a final budget and levy and submit it to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Compiling the budget was part of a many-month-long process that included a public Truth in Taxation hearing on Dec. 7 where commissioners heard comments regarding the budget as is required by state statute.
Commissioner Michael Kazcmarek was the dissenting vote, Tuesday, of the final $201,527,551 budget and $95,003,567 levy, which equates to a 4.8 percent increase over 2023.
Commissioners also heard a summary of the 2023 legislative session from Shane Zahrt of Flaherty and Hood Tuesday morning and approved an agreement with the firm for legislative services in 2024. Zahrt described how 2023 was about as busy and active as the legislature has ever been.
“They came in with the state sitting on more than $17 billion and they spent every bit of that and then some,” he said.
He predicted there will be a lot of “fix it” items bleeding into 2024, some intended and some unintended. “When I say intended, I mean some legislation was set up as a part 1, but some are frankly just mistakes.” For instance, a mistake in the tax bill could cost the state in the long run if it’s not fixed.
He said they could also expect some clarification in 2024 on major initiatives Wright County cares about such as cannabis, and labor employment requirements and standards. The state still has some money to spend this year and he predicted that because it’s an election year they will spend it. That has good and band implications for Wright County. He predicted there will be a lot of focus put on a bonding bill capital investment package which could mean local funding for projects like repairs and upgrades at the Wright Tech Center which Wright County’s legislators will be sponsoring a bill for in the 2024 session.