MONROE - Green County Board Supervisor Cathy Cryor Burgweger was the lone "no" vote when the board voted 28-1 for the county's tax levy at Tuesday's board meeting.
The tax levy needed from county municipalities to meet the county's total 2011 budget of almost $42 million is about $14 million. The tax rate for 2011 is $5.53 per thousand dollars of equalized value. That tax rate is 2.4 percent higher than the 2010 rate of $5.40.
Cryor Burgweger said she would have preferred to see the board keep the same tax rate as last year.
"Property taxes are an issue to people in my district," Cryor Burgweger said. "Especially with the economy the way it is. I had to vote no to support the people in my district."
But if the tax rate had remained at $5.40 per thousand of equalized value, the county would have had to cut $329,000 from the general fund, said Harvey Mandel, finance and accounting committee chairman.
He said it could have been done, but it would have meant some hard choices from department heads who were already cutting budgets wherever they could.
Cryor Burgweger said she knew it would mean cuts to the general fund, but she is concerned about how citizens will view an increase in the tax rate. However, she said she understands how difficult it was for the finance and accounting committee to put together the budget and how careful department heads were to keep expenses down.
"I think they did a good job," she said of the committee and department heads.
With the new tax rate, the owner of a home valued at $100,000 will pay $553 in county taxes. A farm valued at $300,000 would be assessed $1,659.
The tax levy - the amount taxpayers will pay toward the total budget - of about $14.3 million, is a decrease of about $38,000, or 2.6 percent, from the 2010 levy of about $14.4 million. The board voted Tuesday to use $1.8 million from the county's sales tax towards the 2011 budget, helping reduce the tax levy.
The total budget for 2011 is about $41.9 million, an increase of about $500,000, or 1.1 percent more than the 2010 budget.
The county's budget included about $10.5 million for Pleasant View Nursing Home, a decrease from the 2010 budget of $10.6 million. The nursing home budget accounts for about 25 percent of the total county budget.
The county exceeded the state-mandated revenue limit by about $887,000 to help cover costs for the nursing home.
In October 2009, county residents voted by a 3-to-1 margin to allow the county to exceed the property tax levy limit by up to $890,000 a year for the next five years to fund the nursing home. Last November, the county board voted to exceed the revenue limit for the nursing home by $819,000 for 2010.
The approximately $887,000 in the 2011 budget will be used to make up part of the difference between the cost of care and the amount of money received to care for Medicaid residents and pay for maintenance and equipment needs.
About 80 percent of the approximately 120 residents at Pleasant View are on Medicaid. The remaining 20 percent of residents at the nursing home are either on Medicare or privately pay for their care.
Some of the $887,000 will be used for maintenance projects and equipment. The projects and equipment purchases were put on hold in the past - when there wasn't extra money in the county budget to pay for them.
The 2011 budget included money set aside for capital improve projects. Among those projects is $200,000 for a sprinkler system at Pleasant View Nursing Home, which the complex is required to have by 2013. The expected total cost of the project is about $524,000.
The county set aside $75,000 to update its computer hardware and software.
Mandel said personnel costs account for about 55 percent of the overall budget, about 2 percent more than in 2010. The increase was due to higher insurance costs.
The tax levy needed from county municipalities to meet the county's total 2011 budget of almost $42 million is about $14 million. The tax rate for 2011 is $5.53 per thousand dollars of equalized value. That tax rate is 2.4 percent higher than the 2010 rate of $5.40.
Cryor Burgweger said she would have preferred to see the board keep the same tax rate as last year.
"Property taxes are an issue to people in my district," Cryor Burgweger said. "Especially with the economy the way it is. I had to vote no to support the people in my district."
But if the tax rate had remained at $5.40 per thousand of equalized value, the county would have had to cut $329,000 from the general fund, said Harvey Mandel, finance and accounting committee chairman.
He said it could have been done, but it would have meant some hard choices from department heads who were already cutting budgets wherever they could.
Cryor Burgweger said she knew it would mean cuts to the general fund, but she is concerned about how citizens will view an increase in the tax rate. However, she said she understands how difficult it was for the finance and accounting committee to put together the budget and how careful department heads were to keep expenses down.
"I think they did a good job," she said of the committee and department heads.
With the new tax rate, the owner of a home valued at $100,000 will pay $553 in county taxes. A farm valued at $300,000 would be assessed $1,659.
The tax levy - the amount taxpayers will pay toward the total budget - of about $14.3 million, is a decrease of about $38,000, or 2.6 percent, from the 2010 levy of about $14.4 million. The board voted Tuesday to use $1.8 million from the county's sales tax towards the 2011 budget, helping reduce the tax levy.
The total budget for 2011 is about $41.9 million, an increase of about $500,000, or 1.1 percent more than the 2010 budget.
The county's budget included about $10.5 million for Pleasant View Nursing Home, a decrease from the 2010 budget of $10.6 million. The nursing home budget accounts for about 25 percent of the total county budget.
The county exceeded the state-mandated revenue limit by about $887,000 to help cover costs for the nursing home.
In October 2009, county residents voted by a 3-to-1 margin to allow the county to exceed the property tax levy limit by up to $890,000 a year for the next five years to fund the nursing home. Last November, the county board voted to exceed the revenue limit for the nursing home by $819,000 for 2010.
The approximately $887,000 in the 2011 budget will be used to make up part of the difference between the cost of care and the amount of money received to care for Medicaid residents and pay for maintenance and equipment needs.
About 80 percent of the approximately 120 residents at Pleasant View are on Medicaid. The remaining 20 percent of residents at the nursing home are either on Medicare or privately pay for their care.
Some of the $887,000 will be used for maintenance projects and equipment. The projects and equipment purchases were put on hold in the past - when there wasn't extra money in the county budget to pay for them.
The 2011 budget included money set aside for capital improve projects. Among those projects is $200,000 for a sprinkler system at Pleasant View Nursing Home, which the complex is required to have by 2013. The expected total cost of the project is about $524,000.
The county set aside $75,000 to update its computer hardware and software.
Mandel said personnel costs account for about 55 percent of the overall budget, about 2 percent more than in 2010. The increase was due to higher insurance costs.