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In contentious vote, council OKs preliminary 2027 budget and levy

FAIRMONT— The Fairmont City Council again discussed the 2027 preliminary budget and levy at its meeting on Monday, which it approved in a 3-2 vote at a 10.8 percent levy increase. This came following three budget workshops in recent weeks. The council was looking at 10.8 percent increase with the tax rate impact at a 10.9 percent increase. Finance Director Paul Hoye said, “Prior years we’ve had enough growth in our tax capacity that it actually offsets some of our levy increase, this year we actually had a slight decrease in our net tax capacity, very small, less than ...

County OKs preliminary levy at 6.57 hike

FAIRMONT— Following a budget workshop last week, the Martin County Board of Commissioners in their regular meeting on Tuesday learned that the possible 2027 levy increase of 6.59 percent had dropped to a 6.57 percent increase with the levy dollar amount at $25.3 million. Commissioner Joe Loughmiller made a motion to approve the preliminary levy at a 6.57 percent increase. Commissioner Richard Koons seconded it to move forward with discussion. “I still think it’s too high,” Koons said. “It is a good starting point and we can work down from there in the next two ...

Council approves contract with hockey

FAIRMONT— After the Fairmont City Council approved a new one year contract with the Fairmont Ag Society (Martin County Fair Board) on Monday, it discussed a new contract with the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association for use of the Martin County Arena. Back in 1987 the city and the association first entered into an agreement and City Administrator Jason Baker said that the fair board has been part of a contract but in redoing them, the two organizations were split so that each would have a contract with the city. “This proposed agreement authorizes the association to use the Martin ...

C&C club offering park bench sponsorship

SHERBURN — CREST Lunch and Lean will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, Sept. 16, at First Lutheran Church in Trimont. The program speaker will speak about Duluth shipping. A lunch will follow the program. These are free to senior citizens from Martin County. CREST does appreciate ...

BEA Board goes over superintendent evaluation

BLUE EARTH— One of the first things on the agenda at the Blue Earth Area School Board meeting on Monday was an update on something that had happened at a closed session at last month’s meeting. Board chairman Sara Hauskins gave the report on last month’s closed session that was an evaluation of the performance of BEA superintendent Mandy Fletcher. “Superintendent Fletcher was evaluated on three goals being accomplished,” Hauskins said. “After it was all tabulated, she received a rating of 3.6 out of a possible four points.” Those three goals were 1. Continuous ...

Reinke ready for full-time cop role

FAIRMONT – With over 10 years of experience, Seth Reinke is transitioning from part-time to full-time with the Fairmont Police Department. Reinke was born in St. James and following high school graduation, attended Hibbing Community College, which he graduated from in 2006 with his ...