County budget discussions begin, showing big increases

By Anna Jauhola
Kittson County Commissioners started reviewing budget numbers for 2025 during a workshop on Monday, Aug. 12. Along with County Administrator Aimee Sugden and CFO Shirley Swenson, the board went through several department’s budgets.
This is by no means a full picture of the county’s 2025 budget, but a snapshot of what the board discussed.
The board is still waiting for information from the sheriff’s department, social services, zoning and departments that fall under Kittson Soil and Water. So they did not discuss an overall increase to the levy or departments, except to say health insurance is budgeted high, as increases are expected.
The courthouse budget includes an increase to $100,000 for building grounds and maintenance, in preparation for payments on the renovation project. The commission also suggested an increase for equipment and vehicles to $10,000, which covers snow removal, lawn mowing and other equipment.
The commissioner’s budget sheet showed an estimated increase over 2023 of about $35,000, which is attributed to the higher health insurance and contributions, a wage increase and services. Pemberton Law and DDA Human Services are included in the services line of $12,000.
Swenson and Sugden created a separate budget for the county administrator, as it was previously lumped in with the auditor-treasurer’s budget.
“We took it out and made it its own budget just for better tracking and clarity,” Sugden said. “Most of the cost in here is wages and then travel and for meetings, subscriptions and dues.” That budget is set at $143,577.
Without Sugden’s expenses in the auditor-treasurer’s budget, Swenson’s department shows a decrease, of course, so the numbers seem skewed, they said. This budget includes taxpayer services, payroll/benefits and licensing departments. With the new wage study this year, all employees are set for a 4% bump in pay, so that factors heavily into the budget, plus health insurance costs will be figured high until final numbers come in toward the end of the year. One other larger item
One big budget item Swenson pointed out was some departments will budget for new computers on a rotating basis. This was a suggestion by former IT Director Lance Henrickson to begin updating computers.
Under the data processing budget, there is a salaries and wages line for $57,818.
“We did include a salary and wage if we were to hire an IT technician – an entry-level position,” Sugden said. “That’ll be a decision you have to discuss going forward.”
Also in that budget is a services line for $150,000 to pay for IT management from Marco, plus a capital outlay under $5,000 and capital outlay over $5,000 – each of which had budgets of $50,000. Swenson said they will double check, but at least one of those is for upgrading the server.
The elections budget for 2025 includes supplies of $43,000 and capital outlay of $20,000. Sugden said there could be a special election, depending on how the presidential election goes in November. Swenson said they are also looking at new ballot casting machines from Election Systems & Software, which currently provides those services for the county.
The county attorney’s budget request came in over 8%, but Swenson said the board heard a similar request for 2023 and approved only a 3% increase. The commission talked about keeping the increase in line with the COLA increase of 4%.
Many offices, like the assessor and recorder, are budgeted for basic wage increases and are asking for the GIS program to be updated. That is in a separate budget of its own, with an estimate of $60,000. It is a program needed in several departments across county and federal government offices.
Court administration costs will be up this year. Swenson said there are cases the county has to pay for, including psychological services.
“They’re all court appointed, so we never know. She went for $20,000. This year we’re already at $21,000,” Swenson said. “There’s no control over that, it’s whatever the judge says.”
The 2024 budget for court administration was $11,000 and total activity recorded was $21,581.35.
One of the biggest budget increases will be U of M Extension service. They are housed in the courthouse and have asked for a nearly 14% increase in funding after doing a wage study of their own, Sugden said. Extension representatives will be visiting with the board at a future meeting about the budget request.
As the budget season continues, the board will be meeting more about the budget. Workshops are open to the public, but the commission does not make any decisions during these meetings.
The next workshop is set for Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 9 a.m. in the upstairs meeting room of the courthouse.
The county has to approve a preliminary levy by Sept. 30.