County looks at taxes, payroll and land surveys

During County Board sessions the morning of Dec. 2, county administrator Michael Johnson summarized that the county’s “property tax effect” for 2026 will be a three-percent increase, though official numbers will indicate about six percent due to a bookkeeping change. Namely, the taxes formerly attributed to the county-wide system of libraries are now incorporated into the county’s numbers, since it was discovered earlier this year that the library system is not authorized to levy taxes directly.

 

Thus, although the county’s listing on property owners’ 2026 tax statements will appear to be six percent higher than in 2025, their county taxes altogether will have increased only three percent because a separate line listing taxes for the library system no longer appears.

 

Johnson informed commissioners the three-percent increase is the lowest in the state, with Blue Earth County reporting an expected 8.5 percent increase; Brown County, 10 percent; Sibley County four percent and Steele county 5.1 percent.

 

Taxpayers will be offered a full overview of the county’s budget plans for 2026 at a “Truth in Taxation” session scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16.

 

During the Dec. 2 meeting, board members enacted a reimbursement policy for county property owners whose privately arranged surveys include locating and certifying a section corner, a process which can cost thousands of dollars. 

 

The policy notes that the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) for Minnesota was established in the latter half of the 1800s by the federal government, and that survey crews of the time used “whatever materials were present” to mark more than 300,000 section corners statewide. Original markers included rocks, wooden poles, and stacked layers of cut sod.

 

Locating lost markers is a time-consuming process which often requires a combination of research into survey records and work in the field to find the original marker or determine its exact location. Cost for locating markers vary based on how well verified nearby markers are; in Waseca County, where markers are in the process of being confirmed, costs can be $2,000 or more.

 

The new PLSS policy acknowledges it is “public responsibility” to confirm the locations of section corners. During the meeting, county public works director Jim Kollar stated, “Every additional section corner that is located and certified helps with the process of finding the next one.”

 

Commissioners approved a proposal by county human resources director Melissa Sexton that “non-union” individuals who receive pay from the county–among them elected officials including  the county attorney, sheriff, and county board members–should receive a three-percent increase  to their pay grade effective in January, and a two-percent increase this coming July, provided they are not already at the top of their pay grade.

 

Sexton also presented a policy she drafted regarding how the county will administer the state’s newly implemented, required “paid family medical leave” program. Though he acknowledged the county must have the policy, commissioner Brad Milbrath stated he would be voting against it on principle. “It’s being shoved down our throat,” he observed. “It’s going to hurt every business in Minnesota.” He was joined in the no vote by commissioner Brian Harguth. The new policy passed with three commissioners voting yes.