The crowds flocked to the annual area Truth in Taxation (T in T) hearings last week as they usually

The crowds flocked to the annual area Truth in Taxation (T in T) hearings last week as they usually do.
The Baudette City Council, in fact, played to an almost empty house. The lone non-city functionary to appear at the T in T hearing on Tuesday was a media type looking for some excitement in his life.
He failed to find it at this particular hearing.
City Clerk/Treasurer Tina Rennemo had a handout ready that showed Baudette’s proposed 2007 property tax levy of $176,853 compared with 2006 levies by a number of Minnesota cities with populations running from 822 up to 1,172. Most of the others had levies approaching or exceeding $300,000. The handout piece also showed that Baudette is scheduled to receive $327,242 in Local Government Aid in 2007, an amount paid in installments in July and December.
Public safety will eat up the largest single piece of the city budget of over $906,000 in 2007. Public safety will account for $306,195, followed by streets and highways at $202,604; general government at $193,236; and library, parks and recreation at $189,430.
The budget, which was formally adopted at the council meeting Monday (Dec. 11) night, will be up only 1.5 percent from 2006. Some categories are down dramatically, though public safety is scheduled to increase 8.1 percent and streets and highways 7.3 percent. Budget amounts do not include expenses associated with city utility and liquor operations.
School hearing
The Lake of the Woods School T in T hearing drew a dozen people in addition to school board members, but all but four of them were school staff members or students.
One of the four people not directly connected with the school is retired teacher Doug Nosan, who was there to question a levy of $198,895 to run the swimming pool. The facility is used extensively by the general public. Lake of the Woods is one of four districts in the state allowed to make a specific levy for swimming pool operation and maintenance. Others are International Falls, Warroad and Roseau.
Most general education and transportation expenses are paid by the state, but Lake of the Woods does make specific levies for such things as health and safety ($183,704), operating capital, community service, the hockey arena and other particular categories.
The big one for the district will be debt service of $1,073,834 -- an amount that will be nearly double the 2001 levy of $542,172.
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Both hearings were short. The city’s convened at 5:00 and adjourned at 5:28. The school district hearing started at about 6:30 and was over by 6:50, though the meeting did extend past 7L00 with some additional business.
Lake of the Woods County is not required to hold a hearing, since the one-year increase in the levy will be less than the rate of inflation.