County Board Notes-April 24, 2012

A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2012 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.

-Lisa Havelka presented on Tourism efforts in 2012.  Tourism award to Maxine Ronglein.  Discussed other upcoming events.
-Bixby sewer project update given by county planner.  Waiting on property owners to sign off on variances.  May need to reapply for a variance.  Looking to get bids out with two options - original plan and secondary plan for the sewer project.
-paving projects:  2012 paving .  Pricing is up 33% this year for the bituminous mix, yet overall costs 10% under engineer estimates.
-review bids for land lease of ag land on the site purchased for new highway department building-will award to a farmer at tonight’s regular board meeting.
-May 8th meeting will review PowerPoint on highway building project.  Hold open house presentation on the project in May 15th at 630pm.  There will be a discussion at the May 8th committee of the whole about the highway project addressing the questions presented by the Chamber of Commerce.
-discussed what to name the new facility highway department.

City Council Notes-April 17, 2012

A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2012 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.

Presentation by Police Chief Hiller on annual report.

Building Inspection department.  New dwelling permits for first three months = 2

Planning Commission minutes: Sheriff Sale of Pillsbury, bank will take over property on May 23rd 2012.

Street Vendor permit for “U Betcha Dog”, hot dog stand.

City is working on a grant from the DNR for $110,000 to buy a house in floodplain at 1018 Elm Ave, and will demolish it.

City Policy change for employees.  Prohibits cell phone use while driving, emergency vehicles are exempt.

Chamber Board Invites Involvement from School District

Superintendent Tapper and School Board Directors recently received the below letter from the OACCT Board of Directors regarding the business community's involvement in future district proposals.


The Owatonna School District is important to local business success by educating the future workforce, attracting new employees, and creating our future leaders.  We appreciate your work.  The Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism (OACCT) Board of Directors would like to suggest increased involvement by the business community in the strategic efforts of the school district.

Chamber members know the current proposal to cut school programming is a major decision that will impact the district and community in multiple ways.  We believe that a clear plan that results in a safe, productive, and challenging environment will continue to produce the quality student for which Owatonna has come to be known.  Not being directly connected to the development of these proposals leaves us unqualified to advocate a position either way on behalf of our members regarding the validity of the proposal or the course of action that should be taken to resolve the budget crisis.

As you know ‘budget crisis’ is something the business community has been familiar with over the last five years.  The economic recession has forced our businesses to focus on their core products or services to remain relevant and viable.  These experiences are valuable lessons that can be used by the district in their current deliberations.

An example of how these business experiences have been utilized with success has been the City of Owatonna’s focus on providing important services with reduced budgets.  Over the past several years, the Chamber has focused business expertise on local government efficiency and utilizing best practices to find ways to deliver effective services at a lesser cost.    

Our collaborative work with local government shows a sincere desire by the business community to be part of a positive community solution.  Chamber members have acknowledged the importance of the district’s plans and are requesting the Chamber’s agenda include sharing business input on current and future school district proposals.

We welcome an opportunity to share business expertise with school district officials to assist in resolving the challenges facing the district.

Huntington Voted in as District 5 Representative

Nina Huntington participated in a recent
candidate forum on March 26th.

Congratulations to Nina Huntington the new Steele County District 5 representative!

District 5 voters elected Huntington in by 86 votes over Doug Hughes.

For other candidate information, voter locations or local policy issues, check out voiceforowatonna.org.

U.S. Chamber ranks Voiceforowatonna.org as a top site

The OACCT, VoiceforOwatonna.org, recently received recognition for the U.S. Chamber's Free Enterprise Network as a top partner, boasting 2,686 site pageviews.

Owatonna was one of three chambers listed as a top partner this quarter and the only local chamber of commerce ranked.

Check out the site for legislative and local issue tracking, scorecards, candidate and voting information and easily email elected officials on top business issues.

Property Value Goes Down, Taxes Go Up--the County Explains

Are you curious why your property taxes show a decrease in value, but you have an increase in taxes?

It involves the homestead market value credit and the homestead market value exclusion from the state, as explained by Steele County at: http://www.co.steele.mn.us/truth_in_taxation_information.html

By eliminating the homestead market value credit, the state saves approximately $260 million, which helps to balance the state’s budget.

Steele County lost $1,216,112 in homestead market value credit and $97,242 of County Program Aid that was paid by the State of Minnesota in 2011. This $1,313,354 represented 6.4% of the $20,559,346 total levy for Steele County in 2011. Due to the state’s change, this will be absorbed by the taxpayers of Steele County, even without any levy increase. 


The state did not change the property tax refund calculations. Affected homeowners with household incomes below $100,780 or whose taxes increase by more than 12% or $100 (whichever is greater) may apply for the state’s property tax refund and, if qualified, will get some of the increase refunded. The form to apply for the state’s property tax refund is the M1PR and is available at: http://taxes.state.mn.us/pages/current_forms.aspx.

The State of Minnesota has prepared an information sheet regarding the current changes. This is available at:
http://taxes.state.mn.us/property/Documents/hmve-taxpayers.pdf

Additional information regarding the portion of taxes levied by the City of Owatonna can be found at www.ci.owatonna.mn.us

--information provided by http://www.co.steele.mn.us/truth_in_taxation_information.html

Steele County District 5 Vote-District Area and Polling Location

Nina Huntington and Doug Hughes face the voters tomorrow, April 3rd.  Voters can find their polling location at www.voiceforowatonna.org/voter-resources

Steele County District 5 Map