Editorial: City, county both do well to keep budget trim

Talk about it

The city of Rosemount and Dakota County have both committed to keeping taxes as low as they can in 2011.

Last week the Rosemount City Council approved a preliminary levy that reduces the tax burden by $64 for residents with a median-value home.

On Sept. 14 the county approved an increase of no more than .8 percent in its tax levy. Due to changes in the tax base, a 0.8 percent increase in the levy in 2011 would actually result in slightly lower county taxes for median-value residential properties.

Furthermore the board will have the option to not raise the levy at all when it approves its final budget later this year.

Neither board can raise its 2011 levy now.

The city and the county have had to work diligently to rein in their budgets. And both have made painful decisions to keep numbers lows. State cuts and declining revenues have hit both hard, but council members and commission members both recognized that residents are getting hit in the pocket book, too.

The city went through its budget with a fine tooth comb and cut $90,000. Additionally, it was able to make some cuts by going to a higher insurance deductible. Unfortunately, it also laid off a longtime employee in the community development department, where there just was not enough work to go around.

The county was able to rein in spending by eliminating jobs, delaying some construction projects and reducing spending overall.

This is all good news for taxpayers and we applaud both boards for looking out for residents. We just hope that when this all ends they will continue to look for ways to be frugal.

There are likely more tough years ahead and we hope both the city and the county will continue to be vigilant when creating budgets. But as for 2011 we say good job.

Tags: opinion, rosemount, editorial