The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners will set the preliminary budget and levy in their meeting Tuesday.
After the preliminary budget is set, the commissioners can lower the levy at the final budget vote in December, but it cannot be raised. The commissioners are looking at a 6.8 percent levy increase from last year.
Taxable market value in the county, an assessor’s estimate of what property would be worth if it were sold, increased 23 percent from last year.
In contrast, from 2018 to 2022, taxable market value in the county increased by 5 to 6 percent a year.
Health and human services are the county’s largest expenditure area, many of which involve state-mandated services with constantly changing reimbursement formulas.
Public safety expenditures make up only 15 percent of the total county expenditures but nearly half of the levy, due to law enforcement and incarceration costs falling almost entirely to the county without state funding.
