A torn Goodhue County Board of Commissioners has approved a dramatic increase in policing rates for 2025, setting the stage for smaller towns like Wanamingo, which rely on policing contracts with the Sheriff’s Office, to potentially pay much more.
Under the rates backed by the board, the 2025 rate will be $86.22 per contracted hour, compared to around $55 which cities were paying in 2023. The much higher rate is based off of the contract the county offered Goodhue last year when the city lost its Police Department.
Goodhue’s loss of its Police force led a majority of the Board to push for policing contracts which reflected the genuine cost of stationing officers in small towns throughout the county which have no police force of their own, such as Wanamingo and Bellechester.
Aware that the policing contract could sharply rise, the Wanamingo City Council has expressed hesitance to paying much increased rates and a willingness to look at alternative options, such as potential arrangements with the Kenyon or Zumbrota Police Departments.
Commissioner Brad Anderson strongly objected to the increase, saying that while he could accept a smaller increase, the proposed jump in policing rates would force small towns to significantly increase their levies to compensate.
“When we’re here talking about trying to control our levy increase and then just shifting stuff onto towns, I have a problem with that,” Anderson said.
None of the towns Anderson’s district have policing contracts with the county, so he noted that according to the view held by most of the Board, keeping lower rates would amount to his constituents subsidizing residents of towns with discounted police contracts.
However, Anderson argued that the entire county benefits from having deputies stationed throughout its borders and that residents of those smaller towns already pay for the Sheriff’s Office budget through their county levies.
Sheriff Marty Kelly sympathized with Anderson, saying at one point, “I’m with you Brad.” He said that the proposal reflected the clear will of the board for contracts which better reflect costs, but warned that some cities could drop their county policing contracts due to the higher rates.
Anderson was ultimately alone in voting against the higher rates, though Board Member Todd Greseth acknowledged that he was “frustrated and torn with it.” Unlike Anderson, Greseth has Wanamingo and Pine Island in his district, who have raised concerns about the higher rates.
However, Greseth argued that he also represents residents across seven Townships, many of whom have expressed support for raising the policing contract rates as a matter of fairness, ensuring that the areas receiving more help pay for it.
On the other side, board member Jason Majerus argued that the rates should be even higher to more accurately reflect the true cost of the contracts, even though he represents several communities which have contracts with the Sheriff’s Department.
Majerus said it’s unfair to residents of cities which have their own police departments to subsidize policing in other communities. Notably, smaller towns would continue to receive Township-level service from the Sheriff’s Department even if they drop their contracts.
“How does a citizen of Bellechester look at it and say ‘you should subsidize my policing,’ when you look at the cities of Lake City and Zumbrota (and) they’re paying for their own?” Majerus asked.
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