Commissioners to certify 2022 budget, levy

To set 2022 commissioner, elected official salaries

NEW ULM -- Brown County Commissioners will adopt and certify the 2022 budget and levy Dec. 28.

The preliminary 2022 budget passed in September was $43,848,728. The proposed $14,748,430 levy is 5.81% above the 2021 certified levy. The final 2022 levy must be certified to the Auditor/Treasurer by Dec. 30, 2021.

Since Sept. 21, 2021, there have been $127,639 in preliminary budget cuts, bringing the levy down to $14,721,098, a 4.9% increase over 2021.

Commissioners will also:

• Set 2022 Brown County Commissioner salaries. In 2021, county commissioner salaries are $26,705 plus $1,500 more for the board chair, $500 for the vice chair and per diem is $75.

• Set 2022 Brown County elected official salaries. In 2021, salaries are $124,320 for the county attorney; county recorder $84,305; sheriff $111,265; probation director $119,353; human services director $115,566; auditor/treasurer $93,500; highway engineer $125,660; and county administrator $126,316.

• Consider allowing Blue Earth County landfill waste to be temporarily deposited in the Brown County Sanitary Landfill on Dec. 28.

LJP Waste Solutions/ Ponderosa Landfill contacted the Brown County Zoning Office with a request to bring waste to the Brown County Landfill in 2022 on a temporary basis. LJP operates the Ponderosa Landfill and must divert municipal solid waste (MSW) to remain compliant with its permit.

The request was made because MSW is coming to the landfill at faster rates than a year ago. LJP plans to divert about 100 tons per day (five semi-trailer trucks with floor workers to another landfill.

The Brown County Landfill is closer to Ponderosa than other options and is a county-owned landfill, no a large, private landfill.

It is proposed that 34 weeks of hauling take place as soon as the week after New Year's Day. It is estimated that about 769 cubic yards of airspace will be used during a week of hauling, totalling a little over 26,000 cubic yards total.

The Brown County Landfill usually received 36,000 tons of waste a year. LJP is agreeable to the proposed $50 per ton tipping fee, $45 a ton plus a $5 per ton out of county fee.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 28 in the Brown County Courthouse Commissioner's Room.