Property Tax Error

Olmsted County discovered an error in the 2026 property tax levy.  The error created an additional $1,500,000 being calculated into the total levy needed for 2026.

The total levy for 2026 was calculated at $141,713,639.  This amount is spread among 68,500 parcels.  The $1,500,000 error is 1% (one percent) more than needed needed.  I supported the Boards decision to inform the public of this error as soon as possible.

On a 4/3 vote, the Board decided to fix the error on this year’s property tax statement by providing a credit on the 2027 property tax.  The error of about $1.5 million will accrue about $55,000 of interest; this interest will also be part of the credit applied to the 2027 property tax statement.  I, along with two other commissioners voted to reprint and send out a corrected tax statement.  This would have cost the county about $70,000.  My vote to send out corrected tax statements did not prevail.  Please know the money collected due to this error (plus interest) will be returned to property tax payers as a credit on their 2027 property tax.

 

Separating Food Scraps

The County completed a pilot study on separating food scraps from trash.  People in the county volunteered to participate in the study.  Those who volunteered bought biodegradable bags for their food scraps.  The bags were taken to the recycling center and placed in a special container.  There were about 300 households participating.  Over the course of the project 48 ton of food scraps were collected.

Why is this important?

Food scraps take up a lot of energy to burn (because of its moisture content) and food scraps are a raw material which can be used to create more energy in the form of biogas (methane).  By reducing the amount of food scraps enter the waste-to energy facility the county can save money by extending the life of the current furnaces.  If less scraps go into the facility, we would have capacity to receive trash from other sources which will pay us to take their garbage.  This lowers the cost for homeowner garbage collection.

In my home self-study I weighed my trash which was collected over a 6 week period.  After separating the recyclable items, I had 50.7 pounds of trash.  Of this, 17.1 pounds was food scraps.  The food scraps were about 33% of trash.  Taking food scraps out of the waste stream amounts to a huge amount of material (about 30%) that can be used for other purposes. In 2025 approximately 119,000 ton of trash was processed.

 

It’s Up to You

Olmsted will soon begin the next phase of the Food Waste Initiative.  Dedicated food waste bins will be placed in several locations around the city making it more convenient for people to separate and bring their food waste to disposable sites.  Restaurants and Grocery stores will be recruited to join the initiative.  Food waste kits will be available from the county.  The county will be rolling out information on this initiative in the near future.

 

Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo is Making Improvements

Oxbow Park has added 46 camper/RV sites, a new playground, a two-way traffic dump station which can accommodate 4 vehicles simultaneously, and a new woodshed.  A caretaker house is also being built to replace the previous unhealthy structure.  Additionally, Olmsted received state funds to replace the deteriorating pedestrian bridges which span the Zumbro River .  One bridge will be able to accommodate a vehicle.  This is needed to improve the safety for visitors and to allow transportation of campers/hikers who may be injured.  Two bridges will be worked on first and the third bridge will receive funding later.

The Zoo is also receiving improvements for the raptor displays and the bear enclosure.

I am also very pleased that Olmsted County has been notified that it will receive funds to re-route County 105 to the south of the Park and Zoo.  This will not take place until 2028.  The current County Road 105 splits the park and is a safety hazard for park visitors who must travers the road to get to the bison and deer enclosures.  This will be a great improvement for the park.

 

Electric Power

The Waste to Energy facility produces 30 megawatts of electricity.  It is about 1/6^th of the power output for Rochester Public Utilities which makes it a vital component of energy needs of the county.

 

400 Services

Counties were created to deliver state services.  The Territory of Minnesota had to assure the Federal Government that required services could be delivered before being able to be granted Statehood.  Thus, the Territory of Minnesota created Counties.  In 1858 64 counties were established. (In 1910 the counties were increased to 87.)

The breadth and depth of those services is amazing.  It has grown over the years since statehood and continues to grow.  Currently, over 400 services are provided by the county for the benefit of our population of 166,424.  We are the 7^th largest county with eight cities, and 18 townships.  We have 1,400 employees delivering those services in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.

Those services include but are not limited to area such as:

• Public Health
• Land Use planning and Zoning
• Soil Health and Conservation
• Nitrate reduction and ground water protection
• Parks and Trails
• Maintaining water quality
• Solid Waste (garbage/trash) management
• Child support enforcement
• Probation
• Public Assistance programs
• Housing and Homeless
• Mental Health
• Chemical Dependency
• Senior and Disability Services
• Passport applications
• Driver’s License renewal
• Crises Response
• Victim services
• Truancy
• Restaurant and lodging inspections
• 540 miles of road maintenance
• 217 bridges maintained
• Prosecution of criminal and juvenile cases
• Food assistance
• Public Safety through the Sheriff’s Department

The County does this quietly and without drama with our employees and with extensive collaboration with many community groups.  I support our staff  to be innovative and creative in our approach providing all the services in the most cost effective way.

 

County Response to Storm Damages

There was significant damage to properties in Olmsted County.  Stewartville and Marion Township received most of the damage.  Olmsted County and Emergency Services acted quickly to assist people whose property was damaged.  Waste roll off bins were provided for people who could not afford to pay for them.  Planning and zoning will not charge fees for rebuilding plans, and property taxes will not be charged or lowered (according to the severity of the damage) for damaged properties.  Olmsted County declared a disaster and sent it to the governor for his signature.  This will provide low-interest loans for affected properties.  The Deputy in charge of emergency actions has visited with all property owners and held several meetings with property owners to inform them of how to connect with help agencies.