Sauk Rapids Council Hears Presentation on Preliminary 2024 Budget

(KNSI) – Sauk Rapids Finance Director Jack Kahlhamer presented the city’s preliminary 2024 budget to the council Monday. Early estimates are for a roughly 7.5% increase in spending compared to this year.

Kahlhamer says a lot is still to be determined, though. The hike is mostly related to wages and benefits for municipal employees, where the final details won’t be known for months.

He says, “With health insurance, we don’t get a quote until December, and we do have three union contracts that expire at the end of this year, so that’s an unknown.”

Kahlhamer estimates that the overall change in property taxes for the average homeowner will be between $50 and $100. He says the increase is being driven almost exclusively by a bump in the value of existing properties.

“It went up 20% for 2023. And I think most people probably saw a property tax increase, even though the tax rate went down, but they’re still projecting another 15% increase in value of homes for 2024,” he says.

Kahlhamer says ideally, the tax capacity would be increasing due to new development, but that is in a rut right now, both commercial and residential. Builders see a combination of high prices and elevated interest rates and worry about affordability and the ability to sell new homes as they hit the market in a timely manner.

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