FAIRMONT– Martin County held its annual Truth in Taxation public hearing on Tuesday night at which point it discussed its proposed 2025 budget and levy, which is currently at a 15.66 percent increase. Intertwined though much of the conversation about the budget and levy was the ever-present proposed Justice Center the county has been pursuing on and off for more than two decades.

County Assessor Mike Sheplee opened up the meeting and went over some of the factors that could adjust someone’s proposed property taxes.

For those present he provided a sample copy of a property tax estimate and pointed out that the homestead inclusion went up, which was a legislative change that affected potentially every residential homestead property in the state.

Some people’s estimate may have had a credit whether for school building bond, ag land or power line.

If a person’s value didn’t change but their taxes changed, it could be due to proposed spending by the county and the city, township or school district that a property owner is in. It could also be due to the law changes, i.e. the homestead market value exclusion.

“When there are benefits on a taxpayer or class of taxpayers, they would pay less of the levy but that means everyone else has to pick up the difference,” he explained.

For the county specifically, the proposed Justice Center affects the proposed levy. A home valued at $200,000 would pay $61 a year.

Speaking more to what could have changed someone’s proposed property taxes, Sheplee said that few are due to market value changes.

“School districts have two calculations to their tax…. Some are voter approved and some are non-voter approved, operating-type things,” Sheplee said.

He explained that those in the Martin County West School District specifically would notice changes due to its project and how it affects taxpayers.

Sheplee also noted some more legislative changes that could have affected some residents including a change to the ag homestead tier limit and a change to low income rental apartments.

“Again, when some benefit and see lower taxes they will be consuming less of the tax levy and that means that someone else will need to pick up the difference,” Sheplee said. “That’s what we call a tax shift.”

He said that while a tax shift occurs every year, this year it’s more pronounced due to the local levy and the legislative changes resulting in other shifts.

After Sheplee provided information, the public hearing opened up and some Martin County residents voiced their concerns.

One person said that they have a homestead residential property but their taxes are going up 21 percent.

“I’m just here to encourage you all to cut your budget as much as you can,” he said. “I think there’s kind of an increase already built in because property values have gone up.”

He said he talked to a few other people who were upset about how much property taxes are going up. He said his “two cents” were that he believed the county could remodel the current facility rather than pursue the new Justice Center.

“Let’s make these old buildings work,” he said.

Another person present said they have three properties in Martin County and that one property went down 6 percent, another went up 7 percent and one went up 104 percent.

“It is primary residence, residential homestead and it’s not in an up and coming neighborhood,” they said about the last property.

He said that the county portion of taxes went up 100 percent this year than last year and that while he understood that there were several factors at play, he felt that the county needed to be considerate on where money is being spent.

“It’s hard on a family. It’s a huge unexpected expense,” he said.

Smith asked that Sheplee help and address his specific situation.

One person said that he owned properties in both Martin County and Watonwan County and that Martin County’s property taxes are projected to be significantly higher and he questioned why Martin County was three times higher than the neighboring county.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard asked what Watonwan’s levy increase was and County Auditor/Treasurer Michael Forstner said it was 5.5 percent.

“That would be basically the difference,” Belgard said. “Whether you want the Justice Center or not, that’s what’s propelling our budget. We finally decided that someone has to have the guts to do it because it hasn’t been done. We’ve been looking at it for 25 years.”

He said what created the “perfect storm” when the county finally decided to pursue it was that the Martin County West School District decided to go for its referendum, which passed, and the Truman School District passed its referendum, too.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on at the same time so the timing is bad, no doubt, but yet it’s been put off so long that someone had to do it,” Belgard said.

The resident asked why the facility needed changes when there’s virtually the same amount of residents in the county as when the current facility was built. Belgard said that the current facility was falling apart.

“It has to be maintained. A lot of us live in 40-year-old homes,” the resident said.

Belgard said, “the real difference between that and your home is that it’s subject to state inspection and for close to 15 years they’ve been threatening to close it. The reason they’re not is because we’ve been in pursuit of a new building so that’s kept the doors open.”

He said as soon as the county says it is no longer pursuing a new building, the current facility will turn into a 90 day holding facility.

Next, County Auditor/Treasurer Michael Forstner went through the proposed 2025 budget, including requested expenditures from different departments and expected revenues. He focused on a column in a spreadsheet that detailed the requested levy that’s making up the 15.66 percent increase which equates to $23,065,505.

“Right now, $2.2 million is in the budget and that accounts for 72 percent of that 15.66 percent increase. If you were to cut it completely, you’d still have an increase of 4.37 percent,” Forstner said.

The $2.2 million he was referring to is debt service to fund the Justice Center.

County Coordinator Scott Higgins then went over some more details of the budget which includes significant increases to the roads and bridge fund, wages, economic development and human services.

Higgins gave a recap and said that the county had started the budgeting process back in May by asking departments to submit their requests. Next, the board began meeting to discuss the budget in July and set the preliminary budget in September, which could be lowered but not raised.

He also pointed out that that the county had started with a proposed levy increase of 22 percent and had whittled it down to 15.66 percent.

After Higgin’s presentation, one of the residents present said that while he’s grateful to live in Martin County, and while everyone’s expenses are raising, in relation to other counties in the state and areas in the country, he felt that it was too high in this area.

“How can you justify the percentage increase compared to the others? That’s my whole point,” he said.

Smith said that the 4 percent increase without the debt service for the Justice Center would mainly encompass wages, which she pointed out the county doesn’t have much control over with unions and contracts and graded step scales.

Commissioner Richard Koons said that when he got on the board several years ago the levy was at a 6.2 percent increase and that since then the board has strived to keep it under a 5 percent increase.

“We had a 21 percent increase in just our health insurance for 144 (employees) so some of it you can’t control,” Koons said. “The last few years we have really narrowed our pencil down with the exception of the Justice Center this year. That’s our major contributor.”

Commissioner Jaime Bleess agreed with what Koons said and he added that for 20 plus years he’s worked in the current justice center facility and that since he started employment there, there’s been talk about the need for a new facility.

“I’ve seen them patchwork-quilt that thing together over 20 years and it’s to the point where we’re pouring taxpayer money down the hole on something that will never be better,” Bleess said.

He, like other board members, pointed out that the timing is not good considering other projects currently in place in the county.

“There’s reasons we were holding our wad on making some decisions because we thought we had incomes coming or that we’d get help from the state. All of that’s fallen though,” he said.

Bless encouraged anyone who wants a tour of the current facility to reach out so that they can see the need for a new facility themselves.

After more than an hour of conversation the public hearing closed and the board began discussing how it could reduce the budget. The biggest possibility it’s talked about is reducing the debt service levy, which would reduce the levy increase to 12.5 percent.

The board will make a decision on the budget and levy at its next meeting on Dec. 17.