The city of International Falls is looking to collect five per cent more tax dollars than it’s doing now.
That amounts to about $2.9 million.
City Administrator Ken Anderson says the city did lose $117-thousand in revenue this year because of recent tax court rulings.
“Menards and the overhead power lines elsewhere in Koochiching County resulted in a reduction in the taxes that they have to pay and it resulted in a reduction of tax receipts to the city,” says Anderson.
Anderson says that loss was offset somewhat by an increase in Local Government Aid from the state.
“That resulted in a 3.97 per cent increase over the allocation that we received in 2019. That dollar amount is $160, 942. That’s a significant increase,” says Anderson.
The budget also addresses the need for bonding of certain infrastructure projects including upgrades to the Highway 53 corridor and the city’s funding commitment to improvements at Falls International Airport. There’s also $5,000 being set aside for next year’s Census.
“A lot of our state and federal funding is based on census numbers and our population and so we want to make sure we get a full count.”
A final decision on the tax levy and budget will come in mid-December.
