Small Town News

City Council approves levy

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The Winthrop City Council approved a tax levy to be sent to Sibley County of $580,052. That levy is a 15 percent increase over last year's final levy.

City Clerk Jenny Hazelton said that expenses increased just three percent but because of the loss of local government aid from the state, the increase to the tax levy would be much more significant.

City Administrator Mark Erickson said that he and Hazelton would be talking with each of the department heads to discuss what items can be cut from the budget and present that to the City Council at a later date.

Hazelton asked the Council what it thought would be an acceptable increase.

Alderman Pete Machaiek said that after looking at what other city's were coming in at, he felt five percent would be a good number.

Now that a preliminary levy has been set, the Council will be able to start making cuts. The levy cannot be increased from this point but it can be lowered.

"Doing it that way last year worked really good," said Alderman Ed Pelletier. "This gives us time to fine tune it."

Added Alderman Rob Edwards, "We would be doing ourselves a disservice if we lowered it too much tonight. We will take out pencils and our axes to it. We will keep the levy as low as we possibly can and still provide the services that we need to provide."

In other business, the Council agreed to a generator sharing agreement with the City of Gibbon.

Winthrop has two spare generators and has agreed to share one with its neighbor.

When it is being used by Gibbon, Winthrop will be paid $70 per hour. Also, half of the cost for the routine maintenance and testing not to exceed $200.

Any major breakdown of the generator the cities would share the expense on a negotiated prorated basis. If the repair costs exceed $1,000, the Gibbon City Council must give approval. Gibbon may test the generator with its equipment at no cost.

Winthrop has priority use of the generator in emergencies but will make a good-faith effort to allow Gibbon use. The agreement is good until August of 2011 with automatic renewals on a yearly basis. A federal mandate that calls for emergency services to convert to a narrow bandwidth by 2013 brought Sibley County Emergency Management

Director Tom Phillips to appear before the Council.

He said a committee met and had three options for a new county-wide system. A bare bones temporary fix will cost just $273,000. A switch to VHF digital would cost $1.7 million while a switch to the state's Armor System will be $1.625 million. In addition, new repeaters in Gibbon, New Auburn and Arlington would be constructed at an additional cost of $100,000.

The consensus at the meeting was to go to the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) system. Phillips said it was a county decision and once a decision is made a grant would be sought. If awarded the grant, 90 percent of the cost would be covered.

"The county needs to make up its mind quickly," Phillips said. The grant applications may be accepted in the spring.

The cost for Winthrop would be about $135,000 if the grant is not awarded.

"To be saddled with $135,000 for communications, I don't see it,", said Alderman Pete Machaiek.

Phillips reminded the Council that the upgrades are a federal mandate, the county is making the decision and that grants could greatly reduce the expense to each of the cities. He added that he hoped the county would pick up the entire tab for the upgrades.

Ambulance Captain Don Lannoye said that even if the city would have to spend the entire amount, in a big disaster the departments have to work together. "You are going to be glad to have the Armor system," he said.

The Council approved a resolution that would apply for a money on behalf of Dairy Farmers of America through the Minnesota Investment Fund. The city would act as a conduit for DFA to receive $240,000.

Erickson said that $100,000 of that total would be forgivable. The remainder would be paid back to the Winthrop Economic Development Authority to set up a revolving loan fund.

To set up the application, the Council also agreed to hire Shannon Sweeney of David Drown Associates at a cost between $l,500-$2,000.



Copyright 2009 Winthrop News, Winthrop, Minnesota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Winthrop News Winthrop, Minnesota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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