Independent file photo Wind turbines can be seen from Highway 19 just outside Ivanhoe in October of 2019.

IVANHOE — Lincoln County officials have plenty of options when it comes to tax payment revenue for wind turbines.

Revenue from the turbines is expected to total at least $500,000 in upcoming years. It results in the ability to cover about 10 percent of the total county budget through a source other than the general tax levy.

At a December meeting, commissioners discussed whether or not to grant tax relief in response to turbine-related funding.

While there’s interest among board members for offsetting some of the revenue with tax relief, there’s also a desire to invest in major expense items with the idea of keeping taxes down over the long term. Commissioner Dean Nielsen said he’d like to see at least some tax relief to ease the current tax burden.

“People are concerned about their property taxes,” Nielsen said. “We might need to invest some of the wind revenue in county projects, but some of it should go back to the taxpayers, If our revenue goes up, the amount of tax releif should go up also.”

The board discussed two main possibilities for using the wind turbine revenue. They involve repayment of loan funds for county-wide broadband telecommunications expansion and the funding of bridge replacements on county roads.

Broadband loans could be repaid faster than their planned 10-year duration, which would result in a substantial savings in interest.

Bridge replacements could be funded without increasing the local levy. Otherwise they could become one of the main factors in future levy increases.

“We’ll have tax relief even if we spend the money on broadband infrastructure or bridges,” said Commissioner Mic VanDeVere. “We wouldn’t have to levy for some of those costs. It could lead to a long stretch of very minimal tax increases.”

VanDeVere said stability in property taxes would work favorably for county landowners and homeowners. He noted that they bear sizable shares of the tax burden because of limitations in the amount of county wide commercial property.

“It’s a question of what’s worse,” he said. “We can either hand out some tax relief and then have to take it back later with higher levy increases, or we can have steady budgets. It could work out better in the long run if we don’t grant the relief.”

He added that investments in county infrastructure will last for many years, a factor that could help to ease tax increases for many years to come.

County Highway Engineer Joe Wilson said investing turbine revenue into roads and bridges would help in having a well-rounded, progressive plan to keep the county transportation network in good condition. It could happen with only modest increases in the county levy.

“A bridge replacement lasts for many years,” Wilson said. “There are advantages to using extra revenue to finance them. It would be a good investment.”

Further discussions of potential tax relief and investment opportunities is expected in the first half of 2022. It will shape Lincoln County budget decisions made for 2023.