The Crookston City Council held another budget workshop meeting on Monday evening at Crookston City Hall’s council chambers. After a lengthy discussion that lasted about two hours, the council proposed an eight percent increase in the preliminary levy for 2026. The final levy can’t exceed eight percent when it is decided in December, but it can go lower. The state requires cities, counties, and school districts to have their preliminary levy in by 11:59 p.m. on September 30 each year. “Tonight, we decided to look at a proposed levy of 8%. Again, that gives us time to reduce any additional reductions or cuts to try to reduce that number,” said Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler. “But again, as we all know, we can never go up; we can always go down. And that gives us a little buffer to go back to the drawing board, work on these budgets, and try to reduce some expenditures.“
CROOKSTON COMMUNITY POOL-
The council had a lot of questions and discussions about what could be cut, what needed to happen, and where the preliminary levy should be set. One source of the possible cuts this year or later was the Crookston Community Pool. While everybody on the council said the pool is valuable, it will also not be usable in the long term, so how long can you continue to put money into the pool? Dylane Klatt asked if a question could be placed on a ballot to ask the city residents if they would be interested in the pool; however, they had to word it to get it approved by the state to be on the ballot.
The pool and repair funding are still included in the budget for 2026 as of Monday evening. “That would be the full operation of the pool,” said Selzler. “I believe an additional $25,000 budget is currently an additional $25,000 budgeted for building, repairs, and maintenance for any unanticipated expenses that may occur in 2026.“
EIGHT PERCENT INCREASE –
The council’s approval of an eight percent increase in the preliminary levy would bring an estimated $358,000 extra to the city budget. If it stays at eight percent, homeowners will see a slight increase in their city taxes in 2026. “But an 8% increase on a $150,000 home would increase taxes approximately $35 a year. On a $250,000 home, approximately $70 a year,” said Selzler. “It is still a fair amount, and obviously, our goal is to work that down closer to zero. With any luck, we can get there. But again, again proposed, preliminary, still a lot of moving parts, we feel confident we are in the budget, but again, we are over. We need to work on that, which gives us a little room to do that.“
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS INCLUDED IN PRELIMINARY LEVY-
The council whittled the $7.4 million capital improvement project list to $1,486,000. “We also have approximately $1.4 million in CIP, capital improvement projects. Typically, those are some larger projects each department tries to do or plans for each year. So that was a reduction from the original approximately $7 million, as we went through,” said Selzler. “Again, each department had really stepped up and helped work to balance this budget. So those capital improvement expenditures are part of the operating. Without those, we would lose critical services. So it’s nice that we included those in there, very preliminary and minimal, but also enough to keep us moving in the right direction.“
The CIP revised list of items included in the latest budget is below-
AIRPORT –
Crack sealing – $16,000
Grant projects (Admin fees) – $7,500
Lawn mower (only if they get a grant, which the cities share would be $45,000) – $150,000
FIRE DEPARTMENT –
Turn out gear – $15,000
Fire vehicle fund – $92,000
FINANCE DEPARTMENT –
Replace/update office furniture – $1,500
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY –
Verge.io Hardware – $80,000
Verge.io Licensing – $40,500
Verge.io Install/Training – $3,000
3-year workstation replacement – $24,000
POLICE DEPARTMENT –
Squad car and vehicle emergency equipment – $75,000
PARK AND REC –
John Deere mower lease (annual payment) – $57,000
Zamboni battery replacement fund – $5,000
PUBLIC WORKS –
CAT lease payment-payloader – $39,000
Street light reserve fund – $20,000
AES CIP project (South Minnesota Street/Strandner and South Front Street) – will bond ($1,700,000)
Watermain replacements – $300,000
Internet and control upgrade – $25,000
Sewer line replacement – $75,000
Sewer main rehab – $300,000
Manhole rehab – $75,000
Rip Rap for lagoons – $50,000
Sludge and H2S reduction program – $35,000
POSSIBLE EXTRA COSTS FOR THE CITY IN 2026-
Selzer mentioned that the City of Crookston could see some hefty costs from the tearing down of the Tri-Valley building, which would cost an estimated $550,000 to $600,000. Another $500,000 for the Casey’s development (land behind the gas station) and possibly up to $400,000 for bond payments.
