It’s September, which means it’s getting close to cruchh time for counties and cities to certify their respective levies.
For Lyon County, the news for taxpayers isn’t pretty, as officials are looking at a possible 14-plus percent levy increase — or about $2.5 million — the first double-digit increase by the County.
“If the board were to adopt a levy today that would cover all of the requests that we’ve had, we’d be at a 14.7% increase — that would include making up for the $324,000 that we used for fund balance to balance the levy for this year,” Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said.
However, the County is cautiously optimistic it can get that number back down into single digits.
The largest hit to the projected budget will come from health insurance, Stomberg said. The County is considered self-funded, and its health insurance fund has been healthy for the last several years. However, the county is currently going through a cycle where its claims are costing it more than its ability to fund it, resulting in a decrease in the overall balance.
The end result will be almost a $2.5 million hit in the levy for health insurance.
“We’re currently self-funding at about $1,750,000, so there’s a big swing there,” Stomberg said. “I’m not sure we’ll need the whole $2.5 million, but that’s what the actuary is telling us.”
Stomberg said he is not comfortable with a levy increase so high and did say there may be ways to get it below 10%.
“Some things are relatively easy but have their own unintended consequences,” he said of possible cuts. “Cuts that would be made would probably affect pretty much … every commissioner will see something in there that we’ll be looking at cutting that they don’t want cut, and several department heads as well.”
Stomberg said he will bring to the next meeting a more-detailed look at the projected 2026 budget, at which the time Lyon County Board of Commissioners will hold a budget work session.
The levy has to be certified by the end of the month. Preliminary figures can be lowered before that but cannot be raised.
“Just keep in mind that you’re certifying a levy at this time, you’re not certifying a budget,” Stomberg said. “Two different things.”
Commissioner Chair Gary Crowley shared Stomberg’s confidence in getting the levy in the 9% range.
“We’ve went through a lot of items, and I do think we have ideas where we can bring that in single digits,” Crowley said. “That’s our goal, and I think we can get there.”
highlight for Deanna), who wanted to see just how good the cheese is in our neighbors to the east.
This year, their proverbial map dart landed on Tracy, which beat out Strawberry Days, Cranberry Days, Pie Days and the famous Eel Pout Days in Walker, MN.
“We started wanting to go to small town festivals, as we wanted to learn something about small towns that we never have heard of...and have things to do when we get there,” said Mobeck. “Your people are really nice, and beer pong is a real thing and has rules — I thought it was like in college and it was going to be drinking game.”
Mobeck, who lives in Forest Lake, is Korean-born and, was adopted and brought to the United States when he was 8 years old. He also makes regular trips to visit friends in Croatia, so traveling is nearly second nature for him.
“We just enjoy small towns,” he said, speaking over the din of a packed beer tent at last Friday’s Tracy Area Chamber of Commerce Burger Night, an annual event that signals the start of Box Car Days. “Everybody knows everybody, everybody’s friendly. When we were in Henderson, we went back Saturday and someone said, ‘You’re still here!’ They knew we weren’t from there and were surprised we were still there for the second day.”
And, like in Henderson last summer, the Mobecks came back downtown Saturday and planned to stay the entire
