The Washington County Board of Commissioners set the county’s 2021 budget and levy Dec 15. The board certified: ·a tax levy of $115.69 million for county operations, capital, and debt service; ·the Washington County Regional Rail Authority levy of $660,000; and ·the board consented to the property tax levy set by the Washington County Community Development Agency at $5.19 million.

The board has been reviewing the 2021 recommended budget, which will be partially supported by the levies, since late summer. This levy amount will produce a reduction in the county tax rate. Expenditures for 2021 adopted by the County Board total $288.51 million. Of that, $220.36 million is operating expenditures, $48.43 million is capital project funds, and $5.87 million is for debt service. The Board also adopted 2021 expenditures for the Regional Rail Authority of $669,000.

Archives of the webstreamed meetings at which the board members discussed the budget are on the county website at www.co.washington. mn.us. Budget presentations may also be viewed on the website by using the search word “budget.”

The board started the budget process in March, with the review and adoption of principles for staff to use to create a recommended budget. Staff from each department begin the process of developing the county budget from there.

The county administrator gathers that information to present a recommended budget to the board in August, before the board adopts a proposed budget and levy in September. A public budget meeting was conducted Dec. 1, before the levy and budget were adopted Dec. 15.

The budget has a county property tax levy in 2021 that is the same as it was in 2020, a 0% increase, which reduces the county’s tax rate of 5.7%. The tax impact on a median-valued home in the county, that is experiencing a 2.2% increase in valuation, should see a $28 decrease in the county tax, which is a 3.4% reduction from last year.

The budget continues to fund county core services, functions, and mandated services. County services provide a safety net of services, which have been important to residents in 2020, and it will likely be even more so in 2021. The budget provides funding for food security and housing assistance. The budget will continue the county’s programs to address the opioid crisis and the issue of mental health in the county jail, crisis response in the community, and protection of vulnerable adults and children. The budget funds law enforcement and public safety, and continues funding to maintain the county’s roads and facilities.