LITCHFIELD -- The Meeker County Board adopted the 2007 budget and levy at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The county's budget for next year will be $20.7 million and the levy will be $9.4 million. The budget represents a 3.8 percent increase and the levy is a 6.8 increase over the previous year. The actual tax rate decreased 5.6 percent, according to Paul Virnig, county administrator, who also noted that the budget has only increased a total of 12 percent over the past five years.
The county board also reviewed the state's audit of the county's finances. Virnig reported that the county has a "clean bill of health" after the audit of the 2005 finances.
The board approved a seven-year construction program for the county highway department. The total construction costs from 2007 to 2012 are estimated at $18.2 million.
A total of $3.13 million of work is proposed for 2007, including surfacing 1.5 miles of County Road 2 in Watkins and 7.3 miles of County Road 14 north of Darwin. Paving of the Lake Koronis bike path is also planned.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 2007 budget includes $2.3 million for highway construction work, with no federal funding available. That fact was duly noted by Virnig.
"There is a deficit," he said. "The needs outweigh the money."
The board approved a severance policy for employees. The policy changes include that employees who have more than 10 years of service shall be granted severance pay up to $7,000. The payout would be deposited into the employee's medical savings account. If an employee doesn't have an MSA account, an account would be set up for deposit of the payout if the severance is more than $1,000.
