The Wright County Board of Commissioners in recent days unanimously approved its 2027 preliminary budget and levy.
The preliminary budget was set at $228.14 million with a draft levy – the amount paid through property taxes – of $113.13 million.
County Administrator Greg Kryzer explained that the budget process began in May with a budget forecast of a 9.5 percent levy increase. By the time departments submitted budgets in June, that number was still at 8.9 percent. Over the last three months, cuts were made across the board to get a final preliminary levy of 6.54 percent.
Kryzer said the biggest issues in keeping the levy as low as possible were significant funding shifts from the state and federal governments for Health & Human Services (HHS) funding to counties, a 15 percent increase in health insurance costs and rising costs for most supplies, equipment and technology.
He said however, the positive side of the budget process was that Wright County’s sustained growth – a 20 percent population increase in the last five years – will help to spread the costs to a larger pool of properties, as well as a re-engineering of Wright County HHS that realized a cost savings of $1.15 million.
The board unanimously approved the draft 2027 budget and certified levy. Once adopted, between now and December when the final budget / levy is approved, neither figure can go up, but could go down.
The board set the annual Truth In Taxation public hearing for Thursday, December 3rd at 6 PM at the Wright County Government Center.
(content: courtesy Wright County)
