Homeowners to pay 4.5 percent higher Linn County taxes under new budget

Linn County homeowners will pay 4.5 percent more in county taxes next year despite a hold-the-line spending approach in the county budget approved Wednesday morning.

The levy rate remains at $6.11 per $1,000 in assessed residential value, but the state's assessment limitation, or "rollback," will be 50.75 percent, up 4.4 percent over the current limit. That means a homeowner will pay taxes on just under 51 percent of their home's value - an increase of about $13 per $100,000 value, Budget Director Dawn Jindrich said.

"The rollback was really good news to all the farmers," reducing the taxable limit on agricultural land by 16 percent and their taxes by an equivalent rate, Jindrich noted.

The additional levy paid by rural residents remains at $3.71 per $1,000.

No members of the public attended the meeting to comment on the budget, adopted on a 3-2 vote. Supervisors Brent Oleson, R-Marion, and John Harris, R-Palo, voted against the budget because it will include salary adjustments of $5,000 on top of 2.2-percent raises for the county sheriff and attorney.

Harris and Oleson wanted to de-couple the adjustment from the raises recommended by the volunteer compensation board. The salary plan included in the budget raises the pay of other elected officials, including the supervisors, by 2.25 percent.

Today's action means the county will spend $119.2 million in the fiscal year starting July 1, a $10.5 reduction from current-year spending due to completion of flood-recovery projects. There's a slight decrease in expenditures because the state will take over costs of the county's child support recovery unit, which has 22 full-time employees.

The general levy will be a nickel less than that published in the county's official legal because the state has restored funding cut from its aid for services for mental health and the developmentally disabled. That restored about $500,000 to the county, Jindrich said.

The budget gives Linn County the lowest general levy of those proposed for the state's six most populous counties. Johnson County's proposed levy is $6.79. Woodbury County's levy rate is the state's highest, at $7.51.

LINN 2013 Budget