City accepts grant to design local airport enhancements

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

With nearly two dozen people in attendance, the Henning City Council heard from a number of residents about a potential double-digit tax levy increase for the third consecutive year last week.

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday night, several community members spoke against the city’s 15 percent preliminary tax levy increase that is being considered for next year. While the preliminary tax levy can be lowered before it is finalized in December, the increase would come on the heels of a 20 percent increase in the tax levy in each of the past two years. 

Glenn Scott, of Scotty’s Upholstery in Henning, highlighted a recent community meeting that was held the previous week in which 26 people attended to share their thoughts about the current state of the city and what can be done to potentially lower the financial impact of tax increases. He highlighted a solar project that was spearheaded by West Central Initiative, which provided large grants that covered nearly all of the cost of installing solar panels. He said just about every community in the region participated in the project to potentially lower electricity bills of city buildings with the exception of Henning. He said the project was just one way Henning could have lowered costs in the city limits.

He also encouraged the council to run the city more like a business, where it must make expenses and revenues balance at the end of the year, and not just rely on increasing revenue through taxes.

“I hope you look at it like running a business,” he said. “I want you to look at it that way and not how much more money you can spend.”

Former mayor and councilman Richard Johnson expanded on what Scott said and encouraged the council to look for ways to cut expenses. He said many of the residents in Henning are on a fixed income and dramatic increases in its levy from one year to the next will be difficult for people to be able to afford.

“Look at the people who are paying the taxes. If I put every one of you guys on Social Security for one year I bet you will have a different attitude,” he said.

Johnson said the town of Henning should not try to have the top of the line in everything, but be more like a quality community with a good balance of things to offer residents.

“I’ve said many times, we cannot act as a Cadillac, we need to run like a Ford,” he said. “Everything is going up. You can’t make it.”

The council also heard from several other business owners and community members who expressed a concern over the potential large increase in taxes for the third consecutive year and the impact it could have on their personal life and businesses.

Henning Mayor Jesse Hermanson said he understood the frustration of those in attendance, but the city is in a difficult position as it tries to balance future projects with ones that have not been completed in the past.

“It’s a challenging position for us to try to fix everything that didn’t get fixed along the way, as well as put money away for future projects,” said Hermanson. “We are catching up and looking ahead and it gets to be expensive. That’s what has been going on and to the extent we can manage that better I promise we will.”

Hermanson said the city council set the preliminary tax levy high with the hopes of lowering it before it is finalized at the end of the year. 

City clerk/treasurer Jenna Kovarik said one of the concerns she has heard from residents is the need to clean up nuisance properties in the community. While the city has started to tackle many of these properties in town, doing so can come at a rather significant cost ranging anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 or more depending upon court and attorney fees. Even though the city can require property owners to cover the city’s portion of those costs there is no guarantee that getting reimbursed for the costs associated with cleaning up a property would be successful.

As a result, she said the city is at a bit of a crossroads of how it should proceed with cleaning up properties if the residents don’t want to have their taxes increased to help cover some of those expenses. 

City councilwoman Jessica Strege said she has heard two stories from residents in town, one from residents who say there needs to be more things for people in the community, and another group who expresses a concern over spending. She suggested the city do a study with community involvement to set priorities over potential projects and priorities within the city limits.

“I hear two stories in town. One is we have to be doing things to keep our things relevant, adding things for residents to do, we also have to keep up with projects. It is hard to strike that balance because all that costs money. You have 50 percent over here saying we need updates for family activities. We need housing, we need, we need, we need and then you have the other 50 percent saying don’t spend, don’t spend, don’t spend,” she said. “I think at some point doing like a long-term planning where you actually have community involvement and community input and getting everybody to participate in something like that would be really valuable for us as a community as a whole because I feel like this is the argument we have been having for the 15 years that I have been involved in the city.”

The city council thanked the residents for attending the meeting and bringing their concerns forward to the city council. 

In other news

• Approved a request from Pam Wiese and Laura Smith to seek a matching grant from Missouri River Energy System to benefit the Henning School Library. The city has sought similar grants in years past to benefit the school and public library. Wiese said the library has tried to utilize the grant money it receives to help fund STEAM programming at the library.

• Heard that a 30 day notice of a nuisance violation at 604 Holden Ave. was up in the middle of October and there is still a violation of city ordinances. The council will invite the property owner to address the violation at its December meeting. The council also heard of a setback violation at the same property in which a concrete slab that was installed and extends past the property line of the adjacent property. The city council approved moving forward with civil action to potentially rectify the setback and property line violation.

• Approved a grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation for the design and bidding of two projects at the Henning airport. The two projects include a CIP for mill and overlaying the east parking area and drive, as well as constructing a paved driveway to the fuel system and helipad parking area at the airport. The cost of doing the study and planning will be $36,000 of which 90 percent is covered by a state grant. The remaining $3,600 will be covered by city funds. If the city were to move forward with the two projects down the road a similar 90/10 state funding grant split would likely take place as well.

• Approved increasing the fire department PERA from $1,300 per year of service to $1,500 per year of service when a firefighter retires. Henning Police and Fire Chief Mike Helle said even if every firefighter were to quit or die at the same time there would be enough money in the PERA account to cover all of the payouts. 

• Heard a concern over a building permit at 119 Balmoral Avenue that was approved five years ago but construction just recently began on the property. The city sent a cease and desist letter since the building permit was no longer active and there were concerns over whether the project met all of the setbacks from property lines. The city council approved requiring the property owner to meet all setbacks before the building project could be approved. 

• Heard utility supervisor Ted Strand is planning to retire in July 2026. 

• Approved reaffirming current city ordinances that do not allow chickens or other farm animals within the city limits. Strand said he has seen a total of six chickens at three different properties in town, which are not allowed in the city limits. In recent months the city council has debated its farm animal ordinance after receiving a request to allow chickens in the city limits. 

• Heard from city councilman Travis Nelson who said in light of the city needing to make cuts to its budget that he was willing to forgo his compensation for being a part of the city council to help offset expenses in the city. Currently city council members get a stipend of $150 per month and the mayor gets a stipend of $200 per month. In addition to their stipends, council members and the mayor are paid $15 per hour for meetings and work done on behalf of the city. Henning Mayor Jesse Hermanson said he would be interested in knowing what other communities do in terms of compensation for council members and the mayor and would be open to not receiving the hourly compensation for city work. Kovarik said she would do some research on the topic and bring it back to a future council meeting.

• Approved a bid from Shaw Excavating for $15,000 to take down a dilapidated home and clean up the property located at 405 Front Street. The council briefly discussed whether it could conduct a controlled burn by the fire department and clean up the property itself before ultimately approving the low bid. 

• Heard that Henning Ambulance director Chelsey Waskosky will be taking a leave of absence from the ambulance service from January 1 through August 1, 2026. She has recently informed the ambulance service of her decision and will be working with the current co-directors to help with the transition.