WINONA, Minn. – The Winona County Board is proceeding with a tentative 2023 budget that would raise property taxes 8.5%. The budget, as it stands now, reflects cutbacks from the original requests from county agencies that would have meant a 10% tax hike. The Board has until December to finalize the budget. The slimmed-down budget:
> Totals $74 million.
> Requires $22.7 million from property taxes, up from the current $20.9 million.
> Balances only by drawing $1 million from reserves.
Roads and bridges
The ongoing rift between city and rural Board members surfaced in the latest discussion. Rural members Steve Jacob and Marcia Ward called for more cuts, to which Chris Meyers, who represents the city’s East Side, taunted them: How about cutting $250,000 and putting off county road repairs, which would save a full 10%. Another city Board member, Marie Kovecsi, weighed in that she too supported cuts for road repairs. Every agency has cut past bare bones, except for roads and road and bridges, Kovecsi said. Jacob and Ward said that road improvements were being funded by a previously approved sales tax, not property taxes. The issue was left unresolved.
Comprehensive plan
Jacob proposed delaying an update of the county’s 2014 comprehensive plan – a $175,000 budget item. The eight-year-old plan calls for balancing agriculture, business and the environment. Jacobs and Ward, representing rural areas, have been uncomfortable with pressure from environmentalists to shift zoning to emphasize environmental protection – an issue illustrated in years of battling over factory farm expansion. Jacob argued that a review would be less costly than an overhaul. There didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for Jacob’s proposal. The Board has consistently split 3-2 in favor of environment protection.