MARSHALL — Uncertainty about the future was a factor in Lyon County budget discussions Tuesday. While county commissioners said they weren’t happy about a proposed 9.9% levy increase for 2026, they thought it might still help the county deal with potential budget challenges in 2027 and beyond.

“There are some things the board could do if you’re not comfortable with the 9.9%,” Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said. “We can drop that. We could drop it easily to 7%. We could even get it down to 5%, but that would be looking one year in advance,” and not further down the road, he said.

“It’s a tough call,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.

During a special meeting, commissioners passed the 9.9% levy increase, before moving on to look at possible 2026 budget items that could be reduced.

Earlier this fall, commissioners had set a proposed preliminary levy increase of about $1.67 million, or 9.9%, from 2025. The final levy could be lower than the preliminary levy, but not higher.

“We had several things that have hit our budget, that are beyond the county’s control,” said Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg. Those factors included increases in property insurance and health care costs, as well as increased Health and Human Services costs, and county wage increases. Stomberg said wage increases averaged around 5%.

“In 2010, we would say that’s outrageous. In 2026, with the way inflation is, we have to do that to keep up. Our personnel costs went up about half a million dollars,” Stomberg said.

Stomberg said the county was seeing less revenue from interest. Last year, the county also used $324,000 in reserves to help balance the budget.

“The decision for the board is, do you set this levy looking 12 months in advance, or do you set this levy looking 24 months in advance?” Stomberg said. He said there were indications that Health and Human Services costs were going to continue to increase. At the same time, it’s not certain if costs of federal cuts will go back to the state and to Minnesota counties.

“How should I say it? At 9.9%, we’re probably going to have a little put in the piggy bank for the future, if we go that route with some cuts,” sad Commissioner Gary Crowley. “But if we cut it down to even 7%, 7.5%, we’re not going to have as much to carry forward.”

“I think we need to stay at 9.9%, as much as I don’t want to,” said Commissioner Todd Draper. “We know former county boards have done a good job at keeping the levy down, and I commend them for that. With all the unfunded mandates that the state is pushing down on the county and Health and Human Services, we have nowhere to go but property taxes.”

Commissioners voted to set the final 2026 levy increase at 9.9%. They also approved a separate motion to transfer $850,000 in undesignated funds from the county’s general fund and into its debt service fund.