Preliminary Becker County budget to be presented in coming weeks

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Becker County Board plans to take their first look at their preliminary budget for 2024 at their Sept. 5 meeting.

Pat Oman, county administrator for Becker County, said, in his meetings with county department heads, he’s seeing a possible tax levy decrease next year.

“We’re seeing some levy decreases with some of the early department head numbers,” said Oman. “Our plan is to go through the committee process in the next couple of weeks, get the wages assigned, and then bring you a preliminary budget to review on Sept. 5. Get direction from the board and then on (Sept. 19) bring a modified budget with a preliminary maximum levy for the Board to approve for state statute.”

He added the one unknown component in the budget process for 2024 is wages, which they plan on addressing over the next two weeks. He also said the influx of state funding from the legislature should provide flexibility for some departments this year and they also have some large expenses that are coming off the bottom line in 2024.

“The one item we need to fill in the blank on, and we’ll be discussing it in the near future, is wages,” he said. “But we are going through the committee review process … and I think some of the real positives is the legislative funding we’ve received and how it could help with budget support … and we going to be doing our last commitment this year, 2023, for the museum payment … in 2024, we’ll be able to use that funding for something else. We have about $2 million in the special general fund.”

A preliminary maximum property tax levy for Becker County must be finalized by the end of September with a final tax levy, that can be less than the preliminary amount, being passed by the end of the year.