By Sara Strong
In a special joint meeting, the Rock County Board of Commissioners and the Luverne City Council discussed their joint budgets Thursday, Aug. 15.
The city of Luverne and Rock County share the costs of law enforcement, the Rock County Pool and Fitness Center and the Rock County Community Library.
This is the time when budgets are refined, even though they are finalized in December.
The county will set its preliminary levy after the state announces the county's levy limit Sept. 1.
The city of Luverne will set its preliminary levy Sept. 9.
A preliminary levy can be decreased, but cannot be increased before the levy is finalized.
Generally, insurance and salaries comprised the budget increases in Luverne and Rock County joint budgets.
Law enforcement
Overall, the law enforcement budget is more than $1 million, or an increase of 5.8 percent from last year's budget. The county and city each contribute $534,306.
Community policing expenses are separate from the regular budget. The county and city of Luverne are splitting that $50,000 cost.
Sheriff Ron McClure said he tries to cut salary expenses by transporting prisoners on his own because he doesnÕt get paid overtime, as a deputy would.
Mayor Glen Gust said, "As far as I'm concerned, we can't pay [the officers] enough. The first thing people ask about is crime when they're thinking about moving to a community. Keeping crime down helps population and economic development."
County Administrator Kyle Oldre said that an increasing budget may be a good sign in the case of law enforcement. More costs for housing prisoners and trying cases usually means that more criminals are stopped.
Pool and fitness center
The Rock County Pool and Fitness Center's budget shows a 7.3 percent increase ($5,265 more than last year) or a total of $448,566. The city and county are each contributing $77,383; the rest of the budget is made up in fee collections from users.
It's also notable that some improvements within the facility are coming out of the capital improvement fund rather than a levy increase.
More advertising to draw more members or facility users and janitorial services are increases on the budget this year.
Library
County and city will contribute $109,777 each, a 7.14 percent increase from last year's budget. The total library budget is $236,554. Personnel costs are the only projected budget increase for 2003.