(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday adopted the county’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year…but it didn’t come without some comment from board members. And the vote to adopt it wasn’t unanimous.
The budget represents decreases of two cents per thousand dollars of valuation in the Rural Services Levy and 23 cents per thousand in the General Fund Levy. An unexpected carryover totalling one million dollars from the 2006 fiscal year was attributed to the decreased levies. Instead of socking it away or spending it, supervisors opted to rebate it to taxpayers through the reduced levies. But it’s drawn concern from some who say it could come back to haunt the county if the state legislature freezes the levy. And supervisor Mardi Allen says she’s taken criticism from some who say the county should have held on to the money. She feels it wouldn’t be right for the county to do that, saying it would have had to have been budgeted for a specific purpose.
Supervisors Wayne Northey and David Gottsche expressed concern over a wide range of salary increases reflected in the budget.
A motion to adopt the budget passed three-to-two with Northey and Gottsche casting the dissenting votes.
