Discussions ensued at a special city council meeting on Monday surrounding the possibility of lowering the proposed 2026 Babbitt city levy down from the initial 20% submitted to the state.
Mayor Andrea Zupancich named an 18% levy as a rough preliminary estimate. The city council will have until December to decide on an official number, pending further review.
Administrative assistant Kirsten Traut described several “unexpected receipts” that may grant the council more legroom for budget configurations.
Although Police State Aid benefits are now estimated at $57,000 rather than $60,000, projected campground revenue increased by $10,000 after factoring in the recent rate increases and a boost from resale items which have previously “proven to do pretty well,” said Traut.
Further adjustments include an additional $27,517 refund to the city due to an unanticipated reimbursement from the Police Chief Association to cover benefit costs for Babbitt’s retired police chief.
Clerk-treasurer Nancy Sanford described further potential savings of around $6,500, which may be realized depending on final specifications for 2026 employee benefits.
The police budget will likely see an increase of approximately $40,000 under the equipment category after discussions with Gilbert police chief Ty Techar revealed an upcoming mandate regarding dispatch radio systems.
“They’re moving from the current system that they have (and) moving to an AWS system. So it no longer would reside on the servers at St. Louis County, but it would reside in the cloud with AWS,” Sanford said.
The mandate for Babbitt will go into effect in either 2027 or 2028, said Zupancich, but the city will begin “setting money aside” in next year’s budget.
The council engaged in further discussions regarding police staffing and coverage, given the department’s recent turnover. Mutual aid from other local departments will cover staffing gaps until the city fills open positions.
Council members will wait until a chief is hired in order to solidify logistics such as shift length and overtime.
“We may be in a position where if we find a qualified chief, we might have to pay him a little bit more to get him here,” said council member Jim Lassi.
“If we get somebody, (we can) let them run the department like they want to run it,” said council member Joe White, “I think that’ll be an incentive to come here. They get to build their own department.”
Discussions on the levy and other budget considerations will continue to unfold throughout the coming weeks.
