Few objections heard on 4.9% tax bump

Only a few people attended Tuesday’s Carlton County board of commissioners Truth in Taxation hearing. The commissioners held the hearing to talk about the property tax levy they are proposing for the 2022 budget year and how the individual county departmental proposed budgets affect the overall county financial picture.

Of those who came, several complained about their property tax bills, which by law are not addressed at this hearing. A handful came with a few questions. Auditor/Treasurer Kevin DeVriendt reported that he received no correspondence on the hearing and the 10 people who called were focused on the jump in taxes for ambulance services in the northeast corner of the county.

The board didn’t vote on the tax levy or budget Tuesday — that will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28 at the adjourned session of the county board at the Transportation Building, 1630 County Road 61, Carlton. Although they can choose to approve a lower levy, the board cannot approve anything higher than the 4.9-percent increase it approved in September.

Carlton County takes the largest portion of local property taxes, at 42-49 percent. School districts get around 24 percent. In Cloquet, the city gets 21 percent of a taxpayer’s property taxes, and the Cloquet Area Fire District comes in around 13 percent.

Also Tuesday, commissioners approved a bond sale for $10 million to pay for early planning and early construction costs at the new site near the county transportation building. Costs for the new jail/justice center are a significant part of the jump in county taxes.

“The building of the justice center complex will be costly, no doubt,” said county assessor Kyle Holmes. “The $428,000 budgeted this next year to pay on the justice center debt puts Carlton County, compared to the other counties, in the high one-third of property tax increases — at the present 4.9 percent. The jail/justice center is estimated to cover 1.5 percent of that figure. The remaining 3.4 percent puts Carlton County in the lower one-third of property tax increases.”

Voting is set for November 2022 on a proposed half-percent sales tax to help pay the costs of the new jail and justice center. If approved, the revenue stream will not start until the spring of 2023. For the time being, funding with a property tax levy is the only option as the county positions itself to call for bids on the jail/justice center in the spring.

The county will also see a general wage increase of 3 percent next year and a 6-percent increase to property/casualty and workers’ compensation insurance. Health insurance decreased 5 percent.