A $1.8 million increase in property taxes for a $182 million budget is more than newly appointed city council member Roscoe Streyle indicated he can support for the City of Minot.

Streyle, recently jumping into what has been a months-long budget process, had a number of questions for city staff during a special budget meeting of the council Wednesday.

“The actual increase in this budget — on property taxes — when you include valuations, and you have to include valuations,” he said, “is about $1.8 million or a 6.41% increase.”

He cited increases of 16-24% in the estimated property tax total for Minot’s taxing entities that recently went out to residents.

“I think we have to think outside the box, be as aggressive as we can on not raising,” he said, “sticking it to needs, not wants. One of the biggest pieces is the benefit package, which I would like to change personally and be more advantageous to the employee, actually be a recruiting tool. Right now, it’s too expensive and the employees pay too much out of their pocket, in my opinion. We’re at a competitive disadvantage there.”

He suggested investigating health insurance options for better prices, which the city is in the process of starting, and wants to take a look at the salary package, which is up 8% overall but only about 2.5% for many police officers. 

“That’s not good,” Streyle said, calling the city’s salary survey “absolutely deeply flawed.”

“It’s fundamentally unfair to some. I think it’s egregious, actually, in some cases,” he said.

The proposed budget includes 23 new positions, which have been getting council scrutiny. A suggestion earlier this month by Council President Paul Pitner to remove difficult-to-fill police positions from the budget has been met with opposition from Police Chief John Klug.

Klug told the council Wednesday that he made two offers to candidates and feels confident the department can fill or come close to filling six openings by December.

“I have a plan for the department, and every position that’s approved gets us closer to that plan,” Klug said. “We can potentially hire civilians to replace the officers in some of those positions and put existing personnel on the street. So there’s a lot of potential there. It’s just a matter of which way we want to go.”

Streyle pointed out the police budget has increased 31.4% in the past five years.

“So there’s been significant resources allocated to this budget every year actually,” he said. “Of all the departments, there have been significant resources put into police and fire. Fire, for example, is up almost 30%.”

The fire department is asking for three new firefighters in the 2023 budget to help staff a new station that will be coming online next year.

Fire Chief Kelli Kronschnabel said the department reorganized a few years ago, taking rescue trucks offline and putting staff on fire engines. Because of the reorganization, the department is able to shift nine personnel to the new station rather than having to hire for those spots. However, three more are needed to bring the station to full staffing at 12, Kronschnabel said.

City Engineer Lance Meyer also explained the benefit of hiring another engineer and a technician in his department rather than contracting for services. He said there’s significant savings in attacking the backlog of street maintenance over the next 15 years with in-house staff.

Public Works Director Dan Jonasson described the need for more equipment operators to handle the workload associated with flood protection maintenance

“There’s a large investment out there and that needs to be kept up and needs to be maintained. We’re adding pump stations. The Broadway Pump Station is the largest storm water pump station in the state. It takes maintenance,” he said.

Having more operators also will mean a faster response in snow removal, including getting to alleys and sidewalks more quickly, he added.

Jonasson argued for two additional building and grounds workers. Without more staff, the city would need to contract for extra help, he said. A commercial cleaner could cost $85,000 and would not provide the general maintenance that a staff member would, he said.

Based on the amount of information gleaned Wednesday, the council eliminated two additional special meetings scheduled for budget discussion. The council will continue its budget discussion at its next regular meeting Sept. 6.

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