What happened
- Work session held solely to review the draft 2022 budget and levy; no formal votes recorded
- Library budget proposed a 15% overall decrease, mostly salary and benefits
- Children's librarian retirement to be covered by two part-time employees
- Liquor store added $6,000 capital outlay for a new roof air conditioner; final KMU loan payment for the 2009 remodel coming due
- Council discussed but declined to pursue a fourth police officer due to the levy increase required
- Fire department budget added three sets of turnout gear at $4,000 each and one SCBA set at $6,000
- Public works capital items included a collapsed North Street sewer line repair, pool and locker room painting, and a lawn mower trade-in
- Council added $6,000 to the pool budget under 'transfer to capital funds'
- Draft budget included a 3% cost of living increase for full-time employees and a 5% health insurance increase
- Draft maximum levy set at 4.6%; must be adopted by end of September, final budget by end of December
- Work session on Northland Securities Debt Study scheduled for September 22 at 5:30 pm
What was asked 16 raised · 5 settled
Every question, assignment, pending figure and unsourced claim from this meeting, quoted from the record, each checked against the county, census, listing, bid and budget data we hold.
He also stated that due to increases in property valuations the last several years, the actual tax increases may be less.
Explaining how the 4.6% maximum levy would translate to taxpayer bills.
At the meetingStated as a general expectation; no figures given.
The claim holds and can be measured. For taxes payable 2026 the city levy rose 9.18% while the certified city tax rate rose only from 79.3028% to 84.6822% of net tax capacity, an increase of 6.78%, so valuation growth absorbed roughly a quarter of the levy increase. The city's own planning memos used county-supplied tax capacity for this, putting estimated pay-2024 net tax capacity at $1,728,010 against an $84,000 annual levy increase.
factbook taxes/data/kenyon_tax.json and taxes/levy.html; 9.12.23 Council Packet Agenda
Discuss Options for Maximum 2022 Levy The maximum proposed levy increase must by adopted by the council by the end of September.
Statutory deadline for setting the preliminary maximum levy.
At the meetingVahlsing noted the draft budget showed a 4.6% maximum levy and that once adopted it cannot be increased but can be decreased.
The preliminary levy was adopted six days later. Resolution 2021-12 set the 2022 maximum levy at 6.4%, a figure the minutes say was decided at this September 8 work session, with certification due to Goodhue County by the end of September and the final levy by the end of December. Chief Sjoblom reported part-time officer hours and wages had been increased to allow more weekend and hot-spot coverage.
The work session recorded a draft maximum of 4.6% and the resolution a week later set 6.4%, with no explanation in the record for the change.
9.14.21 Council Minutes · taken up again 2021-09-14
There was discussion of possibly adding a fourth police officer next year. The council agreed that the extra police coverage would be favorable, but they couldn't justify the huge levy increase to pay for an extra officer for a city of our size.
Discussion during review of the proposed police department budget.
At the meetingCouncil agreed coverage would be favorable but declined to justify the levy increase.
The fourth officer was never added and the department went the other way. Instead the 2022 budget raised part-time officer hours and wages for more weekend and hot-spot coverage, and five years later the police department was one of the areas cut when the 2027 budget was worked down from a 19.5% levy increase to 10.34%. We hold no cost estimate for a fourth officer and no calculation of its levy impact.
9.14.21 Council Minutes; 9-8-26 Council Packet · taken up again 2026-09-08
Discuss Options for Maximum 2022 Levy The maximum proposed levy increase must by adopted by the council by the end of September. Administrator Vahlsing stated that the draft budget showed a 4.6% maximum levy.
Discussion of options for the maximum 2022 levy.
The 4.6% draft did not survive the week. Resolution 2021-12, adopted September 14 2021, set the 2022 maximum levy at 6.4% and states that figure was decided at this same September 8 work session. We hold no draft levy worksheet showing prior year and proposed amounts for either number.
The work session minutes record a 4.6% draft maximum levy and the resolution adopted six days later sets 6.4%, attributing that figure to this same session.
9.14.21 Council Minutes · taken up again 2021-09-14
This is due to the anticipated retirement of the children's librarian who will be replaced with two part-time employees.
Basis for the library's proposed salary and benefits decrease.
The retiring employee was Assistant Librarian Barb Bonde, and the replacement plan came to the council in January 2022. Director Otte and the library board asked to create two part-time positions, Youth Services and Assistant Librarian plus Library Assistant, to replace the single full-time position at a starting wage of $17 an hour with no benefits, advertised until February 8. By September 2022 the retirement and part-time replacement were being cited as the reason for a 2.4% decrease in the library budget.
The January 2022 posting says the positions would be advertised until February 8, 2021, a date already past when the item was written.
1-11-22 Agenda packet; 9.13.22 Council Packet Agenda · taken up again 2022-01-11
A Council work session to review the Northland Securities Debt Study was scheduled for September 22 at 5:30 pm.
Scheduling follow-up review of the debt study alongside budget planning.
At the meetingDate and time set for September 22 at 5:30 pm.
We hold no Northland Securities debt study, no meeting notice for September 22 2021, and no later passage reporting what the session concluded. What the record does show is that nearly four years later the city still had no debt management policy: in June 2025 George Eilertson of Northland Securities recommended Kenyon complete and adopt one before a bond rating was undertaken. The study document and the work session minutes would settle it.
6-10-25 COUNCIL PACKET Updated
He also stated that due to increases in property valuations the last several years, the actual tax increases may be less. The final levy and budget must be adopted by the end of December.
Final budget adoption timeline after the maximum levy is set.
We hold no final 2022 budget and levy resolution. The equivalent step for the following year is documented in detail: Resolution 2022-24 approved the 2023 budget and set the final tax levy, due on or before December 30 2022, with staff recommending the full 6.8% maximum the council had approved in September. The 2022 adopting resolution would confirm whether the 6.4% preliminary was carried through or reduced.
12-13-22 Agenda Granicus; 9.13.22 Council Packet Agenda
The Council added $6,000 to the pool budget in the "transfer to capital funds" catagory for future repairs that will be needed.
Council amendment during review of the public works budget.
At the meetingCouncil made the addition at the work session.
No revised 2022 draft showing the $6,000 addition appears in our record. The pool transfer line later ran far above that level, with account 101-45124-740 budgeted and spent at $35,000 in 2024 and budgeted at $35,000 again for 2025 alongside $7,000 of pool capital outlay. The city also swept year-end balances from street maintenance, pool and parks into capital funds on a 4-0-0 vote, with the actual amount set by the auditors rather than by council.
2.11.25 Council Packet Agenda; 12.13.22 Council Minutes
Capital outlay of $6,000 was added to the budget for a new roof air conditioner. Bartel noted that the final loan payment to KMU will be made soon for the 2009 remodel.
Update on liquor store finances during budget review.
At the meetingNo specific payoff date given.
We hold no amortization schedule and no payoff date for the 2009 liquor store remodel loan from Kenyon Municipal Utilities. The store was carrying a new remodel by the middle of the decade, with Manager Bartel telling the council in September 2025 he might be able to reduce some remodel expenses and the 2026 variance notes recording expenses paid for the liquor store remodel project. The KMU loan schedule would give the final payment date and amount.
9-9-25 Council Packet; 6.9.26 Council Packet Agenda
The overall budget for the library showed a proposed 15% decrease. The majority of the decrease was in salary and benefits.
Library budget presentation.
At the meetingAttributed to the anticipated retirement of the children's librarian, to be replaced by two part-time employees.
We hold no 2022 library budget line items, so the 15% decrease cannot be verified. The following years are documented: a 2.4% proposed decrease for 2023, a 3% increase for 2024 with a 0.5% levy decrease, a 31% claimed drop in automation costs and $3,574 more from the county, and a 9.44% levy increase for 2026 driven by wages, automation and utilities. Actual automation spending fell from $6,634 in 2023 to $4,892 in 2024, a decrease of 26.3%.
The same children's librarian retirement is given as the reason for a 15% decrease in the 2022 budget and again for a 2.4% decrease in the 2023 budget.
9.13.22 Council Packet Agenda; 9.12.23 Council Packet Agenda; 9-9-25 Council Packet; factbook KENYON_IT_SPEND.md
Administrator Vahlsing stated that the proposed 2022 budget included a 3% cost of living increase for full-time employees. It also showed a 5% increase for employee health insurance.
Summary of personnel cost assumptions in the draft budget.
We hold no health insurance renewal quote and no wage schedule, so neither figure can be checked. Both recur as fixed planning assumptions rather than negotiated numbers: a 3% cost of living increase appears in the proposed 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2026 budgets without variation, while the health insurance assumption was 5% for 2022, 5% for 2023, 7% for 2024 and 5% again for 2026. The insurance renewal letters would settle whether 5% matched the actual quotes.
9.13.22 Council Packet Agenda; 9.12.23 Council Packet Agenda; 9-9-25 Council Packet
Three new sets of turnout gear for $4,000 each and one set of SCBA for $6,000 were added. These items expire every ten years and are on a rotating replacement schedule.
Explaining the increase in the fire department uniforms category.
We hold no 2021 vendor quotes for turnout gear or a single breathing apparatus set, and the ten-year expiry does not match what the department later told the council. In November 2023 Ehrich said the equipment bought in 2007 had a 15-year lifespan, and the full replacement package landed in January 2024 at $156,445, made up of $116,805 for the breathing apparatus and $39,640 for the compressor, funded by $42,000 of state public safety aid, $37,000 in donations and $77,445 from a fire capital fund holding about $255,000. Three sets of turnout gear are budgeted every year.
The gear was described as expiring every ten years, while the department later told the council the breathing apparatus bought in 2007 had a 15-year lifespan.
11.14.23 Council Packet Agenda; 1-9-24 agenda; factbook KENYON_BIDS.md · taken up again 2024-01-09
Some major capital purchase items in the proposed budget included the repair of a collapsed sewer line on North Street, painting the pools and locker room building, and a lawn mower trade in.
Review of the proposed 2022 public works budget covering streets, sanitary sewers, parks, storm sewer and the pool.
At the meetingItems listed without dollar figures.
None of the three items carries a cost in our record. The mower was bought in April 2022 from Traxler Equipment on three quotes with no price recorded in the minutes. The nearest North Street work our bid record holds is the North Street drainage outfall bid in June 2022, where DeCook Drainage was low at $46,018.47 against four higher bids topping out at $81,694.08, though that is storm drainage rather than a sanitary collapse. Pool painting has no figure at all, and a later main-drain pipe repair ran $3,753.50.
4.12.22 Council Packet Agenda Updated; 6.11.24 Council Packet and Agenda; factbook KENYON_BIDS.md
Police Chief Sjoblom provided an update on the police department proposed budget. He stated that the proposed budget showed increases in personnel costs like all other departments.
Police budget update during the work session.
We hold no draft police personnel lines for 2022. The following years name what the increases were for: wage increases for the two full-time officers in 2023, with the chief asking that they be moved up one and two grades in the city pay scale, and increases for experienced part-time officers in 2024 offset by lower training expenses, alongside a new squad car and police building flooring in capital outlay. The reference to two full-time officers confirms the fourth officer discussed here was never added.
9.13.22 Council Packet Agenda; 9.12.23 Council Packet Agenda
Liquor Store Manager Matt Bartel updated the Council on the Liquor Store's proposed 2022 budget. The proposed budget shows slight increases to beer, wine and liquor inventory purchases.
Liquor store 2022 budget review.
We hold no draft inventory purchase lines for the 2022 liquor store budget. The pattern in later years is that inventory rises with sales: the 2023 budget showed increases to beer, wine and liquor sales and revenue, and the 2026 variance notes attribute higher inventory purchases directly to higher liquor store sales, alongside wage increases and remodel expenses. The draft budget worksheet would give the specific purchase lines.
10.26.22 Special Council Meeting Minutes; 11.16.22 City Council Packet and Agenda; 8-6-26 Council Packet Updated
The proposed budget shows slight increases to beer, wine and liquor inventory purchases. Capital outlay of $6,000 was added to the budget for a new roof air conditioner.
Liquor store 2022 budget presentation.
No contractor quote for the liquor store rooftop air conditioner is in our archive, and the purchase does not appear in the bid record. The $6,000 exists only as a capital outlay line in the 2022 liquor store budget.
A $6,000 purchase requires council approval plus two quotes under Administrative Policy No. 34, which the city did not present until August 20 2024, nearly three years later.
KENYON_BIDS.md · would settle it: A contractor quote for the rooftop air conditioner
Decisions
- Council added $6,000 to the pool budget in the 'transfer to capital funds' category for future repairs
- Council declined to pursue funding a fourth police officer for 2022
- Council work session to review the Northland Securities Debt Study scheduled for September 22 at 5:30 pm
Who did what
| Person | At this meeting |
|---|---|
| Doug Henke Mayor | Called the work session to order at 5:30 pm and adjourned it at 7:55 p.m. |
| Tom Gard Council Member | Present for budget and levy review |
| Dan Rechtzigel Council Member | Present for budget and levy review |
| Molly Ryan Council Member | Present for budget and levy review |
| Mary Bailey Council Member | Absent |
| Mark Vahlsing City Administrator | Reported the draft budget included a 3% cost of living increase, 5% health insurance increase and a 4.6% maximum levy |
| Sue Dodds Finance Clerk | Attended the work session |
| Wayne Ehrich Public Works Director | Summarized the proposed fire department and public works budgets, including turnout gear, SCBA, sewer line repair and pool painting |
| Matt Bartel Liquor Store Manager | Presented the liquor store budget with inventory increases, $6,000 air conditioner and the final KMU loan payment |
| Michelle Otte Library Director | Reviewed the library budget showing a 15% decrease tied to the children's librarian retirement |
| Jeff Sjoblom Police Chief | Presented the police budget and discussed adding a fourth officer |
| Holli Gudknecht Administrative Assistant | Recorded the minutes |
Organizations named: City of Kenyon, Kenyon Municipal Utilities (KMU), Northland Securities, Kenyon Police Department, Kenyon Fire Department, Kenyon Public Library, Kenyon Municipal Liquor Store
Figures
| Amount | What |
|---|---|
| $6,000 | capital outlay added to liquor store budget for a new roof air conditioner |
| $4,000 | cost per set of turnout gear; three new sets added to fire department budget |
| $6,000 | one set of SCBA added to the fire department budget |
| $6,000 | added by Council to the pool budget under 'transfer to capital funds' for future repairs |
Said at the meeting
The council agreed that the extra police coverage would be favorable, but they couldn't justify the huge levy increase to pay for an extra officer for a city of our size.
Council · minutes, verbatim
After the maximum levy is adopted, it cannot be increased but can be decreased.
City Administrator Mark Vahlsing · minutes, verbatim
He also stated that due to increases in property valuations the last several years, the actual tax increases may be less.
City Administrator Mark Vahlsing · minutes, verbatim
These items expire every ten years and are on a rotating replacement schedule.
Public Works Director Wayne Ehrich · minutes, verbatim
Full packet text (0k characters)
The minutes
Official minutes as adopted, from 9.8.21 Work Session Minutes; text extracted from the PDF.
Council Work Session was duly held in the City Council chambers at 5:30 p.m. on the 8th day of September 2021.
- Present
- Mayor Doug Henke, Council Members: Tom Gard, Dan Rechtzigel, and Molly Ryan
- Absent
- Mary Bailey
- Also present
- City Administrator Mark Vahlsing, Finance Clerk Sue Dodds, Public Works Director Wayne Ehrich, Liquor Store Manager Matt Bartel, Library Director Michelle Otte, Police Chief Jeff Sjoblom, Administrative Assistant Holli Gudknecht
Mayor Henke called the work session to order at 5:30 pm. The purpose of the work session was to review the draft 2022 budget and levy.
Review Proposed 2022 Budget
Library Director Otte reviewed the proposed 2022 budget. The overall budget for the library showed a proposed 15% decrease. The majority of the decrease was in salary and benefits. This is due to the anticipated retirement of the children's librarian who will be replaced with two part-time employees.
Liquor Store Manager Matt Bartel updated the Council on the Liquor Store's proposed 2022
budget. The proposed budget shows slight increases to beer, wine and liquor inventory purchases. Capital outlay of $6,000 was added to the budget for a new roof air conditioner. Bartel noted that the final loan payment to KMU will be made soon for the 2009 remodel.
Police Chief Sjoblom provided an update on the police department proposed budget. He stated that the proposed budget showed increases in personnel costs like all other departments. There was discussion of possibly adding a fourth police officer next year. The council agreed that the extra police coverage would be favorable, but they couldn't justify the huge levy increase to pay for an extra officer for a city of our size.
Public Works Director Wayne Ehrich provided a summary of the proposed Fire Department budget. The biggest increase was in the uniforms category. Three new sets of turnout gear for $4,000 each and one set of SCBA for $6,000 were added. These items expire every ten years and are on a rotating replacement schedule.
Public Works Director Ehrich also reviewed the proposed 2022 public works budget. This budget included streets, sanitary sewers, parks, storm sewer and the pool. Some major capital purchase items in the proposed budget included the repair of a collapsed sewer line on North Street, painting the pools and locker room building, and a lawn mower trade in. The Council added $6,000 to the pool budget in the "transfer to capital funds" catagory for future repairs that will be needed.
Administrator Vahlsing stated that the proposed 2022 budget included a 3% cost of living increase for full-time employees. It also showed a 5% increase for employee health insurance.
Discuss Options for Maximum 2022 Levy
The maximum proposed levy increase must by adopted by the council by the end of September. Administrator Vahlsing stated that the draft budget showed a 4.6% maximum levy. After the maximum levy is adopted, it cannot be increased but can be decreased. He also stated that due to increases in property valuations the last several years, the actual tax increases may be less. The final levy and budget must be adopted by the end of December. A Council work session to review the Northland Securities Debt Study was scheduled for September 22 at 5:30 pm.
Mayor Henke adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m.