Ole Pappy

It’s Minnesota Newspaper Week and we were proud to celebrate by showing you what it would be like without your community news.

Perhaps it was a fitting time for the Lyon County Board to discuss their new 2018 budget. Commissioner Rick Anderson, noting that no figures for Veteran Memorials was included in the budget — made a momentous announcement.

“I’m tired of reading about it in the newspaper,” Anderson said. As result, he made a motion to contribute $30,000 — $15,000 to each of the Minneota and Marshall memorials.

This issue was brushed aside for several months and maybe, BECAUSE of the newspaper, it was finally brought to the light of day. Commissioners Steve Ritter and Gary Crowley indicated a desire to set a figure for Veteran Memorial funding.

Crowley favored setting a figure and not exceeding that amount for memorial funding. Commissioner Anderson said he felt comfortable contributing $30,000 to memorials.

“That means your saying $15,000 for each of them (proposed Minneota and Marshall projects)?” said Commissioner Crowley. The money will come out of the capital fund and will not be included in the levy.

Commissioner Anderson felt this amount was “fair” based on the overall cost of the projects.

Budget, levy presented in ‘flux’

Overall, County Administrator Loren Stomberg presented “the first glance” at the proposed 2018 budget that showed a slight increase of $146,461 or just over a one percent increase. The levy was $14,609,873 and he’s proposing a budget of $14,756,334.

“At this point everything is kind of in flux,” said Stomberg. A state legislative action will add $118,000 to the county funds.

“The one percent is fairly consistent with other counties. We are in the same boat as neighboring counties. With one percent I feel confident with this budget,” Stomberg said.

“I did make a lot of changes on the operational side,” Stomberg said. “Department heads have had a chance to look at it,” he said.

“Relatively it will be about the same as last year.” He went through the budget and outline the major changes in the budget.

Combining positions in the administrator office will bean a 35 percent decrease in the budget.

And the VSO (Veteran’s Service Officer) shows a 33.7 percent decrease, “Because the clerk’s position was taken out.”

The workload in the county attorney’s office has increased and Stomberg said another attorney is needed, indicating an increase of about $88,000 for 27 percent Because the county was in a building remodeling project last year the facilities department costs were high.

They will come down by over 62 percent in the new budget. While the environmental budget nearly doubled, Stomberg indicated, “We combined recycling in this department.

LAUGH A LITTLE: “Some people just have a way with words, and other people … oh … not have way.”

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “Do something good for someone else. The one who will feel better is YOU!” Thanks Ole Pappy!