At the November 18 meeting, the Rushford Village Council Acting Mayor Mike Ebner led the meeting in the absence of Mayor Dennis Overland. Once again, the council turned talk to the annual budget review. After setting the preliminary budget and levy in September, the council and city staff have whittled down the amount and proposed expenditures to $605,455, which represents a 5.77% increase over last year. They will set the final on December 16.
Concern and some frustration with Fillmore County’s assessment of properties was expressed by Zoning Administrator Jon Pettit and Councilor Bob Hart, who works as a property appraiser privately.
“It’s a good idea for us as individuals to call the assessor’s office and find out why our property taxes went up so high. Taxes are going up significantly. A lot of it is due to recreational land sales. Rural residences are being taxed based on inflated land values,” said Hart. “It doesn’t seem right, especially when they allow the state to come in and buy land and take our tax base away. How are they going to make the difference up? They raise our taxes.”
Likewise, Pettit indicated that the proposed property assessments are up 77.7% on his agricultural land. When he questioned the county, he stated he was told it was because of recreational land.
“I farmed that since the day we bought it. It’s always been agricultural,” he said. “The reason I got from them was that, ‘Well you might not own that forever and if you sold it, some guy could hang a tree stand there and it’ll be recreational.”
“So they based it on a future assumption,” stated Hart.
Hart indicated he looked at about 40 properties in the village and in the last five years, the average increase was over 50% and in many cases it was over 70%.
“I know the market hasn’t gone up 50%,” stressed Hart. “It doesn’t seem to be consistent. There’s no rhyme or reason for what they’re doing.”
The annual Truth in Taxation meeting for the village is scheduled for December 2.
In other news, Community Economic Development Associates’ consultant Jayme Longmire attended the meeting to provide an update to the council. Work is continuing to find new program options for the village’s revolving loan fund. A mini-grant program is also being considered. It’s likely once a program is in place, Planning & Zoning will review requests on a case-by-case basis.
Fillmore County has received Rural Child Care Innovation Program funding of $46,000 in effort to initiate and bring forth more childcare options. Forty people from around the county were chosen by the county to serve and help steer the goal of increasing high-quality, affordable care in rural areas.
Longmire also briefly touched on a new tourism initiative that will kick off in 2026. Dubbed “Explore More in Fillmore County,” it is an offshoot of the Explore Minnesota tourism drive.
The actionable items from the agenda revolved around the new Minnesota Paid Leave program, which begins January 1. The council has designated City Clerk Mary Miner as the Paid Leave Administrator.
The first item included whether or not the village should create an additional supplemental benefit. After receiving input from human resources consultant Paul Ness, the village opted not to create the additional benefits. The council also voted unanimously not to require employees to “top off” their leave pay with Personal Time Off or Earned Sick and Safe Time. Employees do have the option to use it, however.
The program allows employees to take up to 12 weeks (480 hours) of intermittent leave. The minimum amount of time that can be taken was approved at four hours. The state’s Family Paid Leave and Medical Paid Leave (personal medical) allows up to eight additional weeks, so per Ness’s recommendations, the council-approved leave may run up to 20 weeks concurrently.
What the premium split is for the city and employees was more difficult to determine, as the state has not designated into what category the village will fall. Essentially, the village is being asked to make a decision in November, before the parameters are set by the state. Added difficulty with this is a state requirement that each city pay 50% and that any amount paid over that is considered the employee’s taxable wages. Without the state designating which threshold, the council approved Ness’ recommendation to go with the small city threshold and readjust next year when they know more. The Department of Employment and Economic Development will send out letters in December notifying the village of its designation.
City Attorney Joe O’Koren recommended a policy be drafted. A policy and application form are being updated in the Personnel Policy. All city employees will be notified December 1.
“There will be a sharp learning curve on this,” said O’Koren
“There already has been,” responded Miner.
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