No one up here wants to pay more taxes either. The money’s got to come from somewhere.”

Edson Chairman Dan Pilgrim

Taxes are soon to rise at Edson, following an 18-5 taxpayer vote to exceed the township’s levy limit.
Now at seven percent, the levy will rise to 14 percent, raising an additional $73,499 to double the levy. The vote to raise the levy limit followed a 7 p.m. budget hearing and discussion Oct. 31 on road and other township maintenance realities.
“No one up here wants to pay more taxes either,” Edson chair Dan Pilgrim made clear at the budget hearing preceding the levy limit vote. “The money’s got to come from somewhere.”
Had the levy rise failed to pass, the present budget would have been balanced with cuts, including in preventative maintenance.
Shared at the budget hearing the current Edson budget will now include $149,474 raised from general property taxes, with additional funding bringing the budget grand total to $499,099. The township, which collects taxes, sees much of these flow to other overlapping governments, shrinking the portion that stays to cover township expense needs like road maintenance and snowplowing. The levy raise of $73,499 approved Oct. 31 will stay in the township to meet these needs.
Chief on the expense budget for 2025 is road expense, totaling $267,748, followed with fire protection at $85,000. The former relates to maintaintin the town’s 55 miles of roads in a rolling maintenance schedule. The latter expense comes after the Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire Department decided to buy a new fire engine at a cost of $600,000, making the town’s share $200,000.
Also in the Town of Edson expense budget for 2025 are Town Board ($25,000), Patrolman ($20,000), Ambulance ($16,200), Insurance ($13,500), Treasurer and Assessor ($12,000), Clerk and Elections ($11,300), Recycling ($10,000), General Building ($3,500), other MFL/FC/dog tax ($1,200). And Planning Commission ($400).
The Town Board previously decided to forgo a raise in 2024.
Included in revenues for the 2025 budget at Edson meanwhile are shared revenue ($1122,700), two percent fire dues ($4,300), highway aids ($149,413), bridge aids $13,000), a recycling grant ($2,500), computer aid ($1), lottery credit ($6,000), donation ($1,400), liquor licenses ($630), building permits ($1,500), fire protection ($2,047), special charges ($500), recycling ($1,188), other income like town hall rent ($1,200), interest ($7,631), selling of miscellaneous junk items ($1,209), dog tax ($1.095), and patronage dividend ($311).
Brought up in discussion prior to budget and levy raise approval was the prospect of alternative solutions to fixing town revenue such as going back to gravel from asphalt, this entailing gravel lost to plowing during winter and also summer dust control.
Among other issues that may need to be addressed moving forward, one resident shared his view that current restrictive setbacks prohibiting residents from building closer than 83 feet from the center of the road and 50 feet from the nearest property should be repealed. The present result of the setbacks was deemed to be discouraging construction, with the result of fewer homes and residents meaning that a larger tax burden is shouldered by each individual resident, maintenance costs not decreasing.
“This is an agricultural township,” Supervisor Jim Junker said.
“It’s not going to stay that way,” the resident countered. “It’s pretty obvious.”
With dairy farming deemed “not lucrative,” the need to adapt to what had become a commuter township and welcome new residents to lower the overall tax burden was deemed a potentially wise choice, with action awaiting the land use commission as well as future town board discussion.
Also brought up was the method of notice, with just 23 present including board members Oct. 31. Among the options covered at the Halloween meeting were a website (which costs money), unofficial Facebook page (risking deletion of important items), and seeking ways to otherwise engage residents.
As for recycling, it took care.
“That’s why we put in another unit,” Junker said of keeping roads and ditches clear. “You have to make it easy. You have to make it convenient.”