finances

WILLMAR — The Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners certified the preliminary 2014 budget at its meeting Tuesday. The $58.9 million budget is a slight increase over 2013 and includes a net tax levy increase of 1.17 percent. It's the lowest levy increase in the last seven years....

WILLMAR -- Rice Memorial Hospital will aim for at least a 2 percent annual profit margin for the next five years and will continue to build up its debt capacity to take on new projects. These two goals are contained in a five-year financial plan that received an endorsement Friday...

Many people think there is a top secret solution to solving their money problems. Some think that if they could just discover this secret, it would put them on the road to riches. Ironically, people often spend money searching for this secret, either by buying books that promise...

WILLMAR -- Rice Memorial Hospital had the best financial performance in 2011 in at least five years, earning a 6 percent overall return on total revenue of more than $100 million. That translates into a $6 million profit that can be plowed back into services, improvements and new...

Credit cards have an increasingly larger presence in our financial lives. But if we are working hard to avoid new debt or pay down current debt, it may be important to find alternative ways to manage our money. Credit cards are a convenience, but studies show that even if paid in...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The financial state of the Minnesota Republican Party has been so "precarious" this year that it went a couple months without paying rent on its St. Paul headquarters. That's according to a confidential memo from its treasurer that became public Monday.

WILLMAR -- Rice Memorial Hospital fared slightly better than the financial break-even point last year, its best performance since 2007. The gains weren't large.

WILLMAR -- An increase in the number of surgeries helped Rice Memorial Hospital end the month of July with a profit, as well as reduce some of the net losses the city-owned hospital has been accumulating since the beginning of the year. Final figures for August won't be ready until...

WILLMAR -- As inpatient volume at Rice Memorial Hospital continues to decline and an operating deficit persists, hospital officials have redoubled their efforts to find ways to improve the financial situation. "We are looking at anything and everything to get things turned around,"...

Politicians, especially ones out of office, sometimes ask voters if they're better off today than they were a year ago. With spring planting inching toward completion, it might be time to ask area farmers and ranchers the same question. Their collective answer: Probably not, unless...