County sets levy, salaries

The Waseca County board of commissioners approved collecting just over $19 million from local property owners in 2026, a bit more than half of its $39.5 million budget. According to information shared during the county’s “Truth in Taxation” meeting the evening of Dec. 16, the county’s budget is actually about 1% lower than in 2025; the 2026 tax levy is less than half a percent higher than last year’s, now 3%.

 

As has been previously reported in the Pioneer, tax statements received by constituents reflect a 6% increase; this is the result of a change in agency. The LeSueuer-Waseca library system formerly levied taxes for its $560,000 annual budget as a separate entity. The libraries are now under the county’s financial umbrella, and so the county is levying for that money; it is not truly an increase for taxpayers, though, since the money was levied in the past and appeared on its own line in the tax statements.

 

County administrator Michael Johnson stated that the 3% levy increase for 2026 is the third-smallest in the state. The highest increase is Freeborn County’s at 15%.

 

Commenting that Waseca County has always worked to be frugal, Johnson said the future holds some budget challenges because the state legislature has made significant reductions in funding given to numerous programs, and has also imposed a number of “unfunded mandates,” that is, has required certain actions or services which will entail expenses for cities, counties, school districts and townships, but has not set up a system to reimburse the costs.

 

In addition to the truth in taxation meeting, the county board met in regular session for about an hour, much of which was occupied by discussion regarding salaries paid to elected officials, namely the commissioners, the county attorney and the sheriff.

 

County attorney Rachel Cornelius received a 5% increase, the same percentage as that received by most county employees. Her salary for 2026 is $154,000.

 

Commissioners De Malterer and Doug Christopherson, who serve on the board’s labor committee, recommended that the sheriff’s salary be raised by 8.56%, since the committee had compared Sheriff Jay Dulas’s salary to that earned by sheriffs in other counties of about the same size, and found it to be a bit below the average number.

 

Despite the recommendation, Commissioner Brian Harguth moved to increase the amount by 5%, to an annual wage of $140,000. When the question was called, the motion failed with Malterer, Christopherson and Brad Milbrath voting against it.

 

Since no counter motion was offered, the question of Dulas’s salary remains unresolved, with the matter to be settled at an as yet unspecified future meeting.

 

The next discussion regarded commissioner salaries. 

 

Brad Krause moved that commissioners receive a 2% wage increase for 2026. He stated he wanted to see “peaks and valleys” removed–referring to commissioners’ hesitancy to give themselves an increase until the wage becomes far below average, then bringing it up by 10% or more in a single year. 

 

This motion also failed, but commissioners were reminded that state law requires their salaries be set before the end of the calendar year. A replacement motion passed. The commissioners’ salaries remain the same in 2026 as in 2025: $29,000 plus a $95 per diem for each meeting. The board chair, who will be selected in January, will be paid $31,000.

 

In another item of business, commissioners voted to approve a $63,000 expenditure in the sheriff’s office. Consoles used by county 9-1-1 dispatchers are electronically wired with many connections and internal functions. Sheriff Dulas explained his office currently has three consoles, but will need a fourth when the department moves into the new justice center, probably during 2027.

 

The three consoles were purchased in 2022 and have an expected useful life of 7 to 12 years. Dulas explained that the manufacturer will be making changes to the color scheme of the consoles after the change of the year, and if his office wishes to have four consoles that look alike, an order must be placed before the end of 2025.

 

The new console would be ordered and kept in storage until 2027, when the company, Dick Buss and Associates of Fox Crossing, WI, would disassemble the three consoles currently in use, then install them and the stored console in their new location.

 

Cost to purchase the new console and install all four in 2027, is $63,000.

 

County facilities director Brian Tomford said he has had good experiences with the company. He also pointed out that the consoles’ warranties would be voided if county staff were to perform the disassembly, reassembly and installation.