After a careful review of requested expenditures by County departments and offices, as well as from outside entities, the County Board adopted a preliminary property tax levy for 2025 of $11,097,902, an increase of 4.9% over 2024’s levy of $10,579,506. The preliminary budget was set with expenditures of $20,944,535; County program aid revenue from the State of Minnesota of $815,077; other non-levy revenues of $8,940,747; and planned fund balance use of $90,089 to reduce the budget’s reliance on the property tax levy.
Historically, Pope County’s property tax levy has increased far less than inflation since 2017. From 2017 to 2021, the Pope County property tax levy remained the same or decreased, with no adjustments in 2018 and 2019, and decreases of 0.75% and 3.0% respectively in 2020 and 2021. In the midst of severe inflation, the property tax levy was raised by 3.9%, 4.9%, and 6.9% in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively, but forecasts for 2025 have allowed the County Board to return to smaller property tax levy increases in response to the more recent reduction of inflation rates.
Conservative budgeting and the planned, limited use of County fund balances to lessen reliance on levied property tax funding during this period has allowed the County to reduce proportional reliance on property tax levies to fund County services. These same approaches will be used in the coming months to find opportunities for lessening the preliminary property tax levy before the County’s final budget for 2025 is adopted in December.
Under Minnesota law, the County preliminary property tax levy can only remain the same or decrease at the time of the 2025 final budget adoption. The County Board, County administration, elected officials, and appointed managers will carefully examine the expenditures and revenues projected in the preliminary budget for opportunities to adjust the budget to reduce costs and achieve a final levy amount lower than that adopted in the preliminary budget.
At the same meeting, the Board of Commissioners set the County’s annual Truth-in-Taxation Hearing for Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at the Pope County Courthouse. This public meeting is held after taxation notices are issued to property owners in the fall, where budget and tax issues are discussed, and public input on the County’s preliminary budget and levy may be given before the Board’s final budget is adopted. Separate hearings are also held by other local governments, such as school districts and cities over 500 in population, at which the public may give input on those governments’ separately-determined preliminary levies and budgets.