NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners will convene a public meeting to discuss the 2018 proposed budget and tax levy in the 3rd floor District Courtroom at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 12.

Brown County department heads have been asked to be present to address budget questions specific to department staffing and programs. Budget and levy materials were reviewed by commissioners Nov. 28. Additional copies of the proposed budget and levy will be available at the public meeting. Only comments and questions about the budget and levy will be heard at the public meeting.

The Brown County Assessors Office in room 209 will be staffed at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 to address any questions and provide explanations on property values and classifications. The Brown County Auditor/Treasurer’s Office in room 206 will be staffed to address specific property tax questions.

The adoption of the final payable 2018 property tax levy and county budget will be considered at the regular county board meeting at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19.

The regular county board meeting will be reconvened in the commissioner’s room at 6:30 p.m., Dec. 12.

Commissioners will meet with Minnesota Sen. Gary Dahms and Rep. Paul Torkelson to discuss legislative issues in the commissioner’s room at 4:30 p.m., Dec. 12.

Discussion topics include license bureau computer system (MNLARS) capability issues, fractional-linked homesteads and the Agricultural Homestead Credit, funding for community mental health resource and child protection resource expansion, continued funding for Medical Assistance (MA) DHS (Department of Human Service) computer upgrades, state funding reductions, the Yellow Line Project and DHS residential housing rules.

Other legislative concerns include:

• Supporting changes to publication requirements that will reduce the cost of local government when the cost/benefit to the residents of the county is not realized; for example, publication requirements related to delinquent property lists, sample election ballots, financial statements and the dollar threshold for publishing county board-approved expenditures.

• Allowing local deputy registrar offices to offer expanded service to customers such as self-service, online or mail-in services to or in conjunction with how the customer can currently purchase directly from the state Driver and Vehicle Services office.

• Consider introducing legislation that would withhold enforcement of the Dayton Buffer law (103F) for 5 years to allow counties to complete ROB (Redetermination of Benefits) under the 103E drainage law. This would ensure that landowners will have been paid for the loss of productive land.

fbusch@nujournal.com