Clay County Commission 

Dan Haglund

The Clay County Board of Commissioners approved the Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy for $300,000 at the regular Tuesday meeting this week in Moorhead.
Dara Lee and Dawn Bacon made the presentation to the board to request consent for the levy, which is set for the 2025 budget year. It was already been approved by the Clay County HRA board of commissioners last month.
Lee is the executive director for the Clay County Housing Authority, a position she has held for 19 years, and Bacon is the department’s deputy director.
And Lee said some budget trimming came along with this latest levy recommendation.
“If you’ll recollect at the conversation at the joint meeting (in August), we discussed that the Housing Authority Board had determined a minimum amount for ongoing operations to be $350,000,” Lee said. “We went back and sharpened some pencils and dug a little deeper, and have reduced that request to $300,000.”
This asks comes along with the request to repurpose some of the state Affordable Housing aid which was awarded to Clay County HRA last year, Lee said.
Lee said the budget has had savings through lower re-roofing costs than anticipated at Agassiz Apartments in Ulen. She said two reasons for the savings included that she had initially budgeted a bit higher for anticipated inflation, but costs leveled off. The second was that the contractor re-roofed the building with a lower-grade shingle than requested, and gave back a 10 percent discount on the work.
Lee also noted that the Housing Authority has already taken other steps to lower costs. One way is by workforce attrition, which has lowered that portion by 12 percent. She said programs which had not proven to be self-sustaining over the long-term have been eliminated as well. Other programs have been consolidated to make them more efficient as well.
And a big one is taking over the management of the Moorhead Public Housing Agency, which generates revenue of approximately $800,000 annually, not including accompanying costs.
“We are looking at long-term sustainability of a few of the properties by trying to adjust the type of subsidy that is provided in those units (in Ulen and Dilworth),” Lee said.
Commissioner Jenny Mongeau, Dist. 3, inquired if there have been any other sources of funding coming in for any other county housing units.
Lee replied that the relief for Affordable Housing Fund, an allocation of $115,600 has been received and earmarked for Houge Estates in Dilworth (60 one-bedroom units for those 62 or older or disabled). And Sharp View Apartments in Moorhead (800 2nd Ave. N.) has been awarded $1.4 million.
Lee also anticipates another $860,000 from the state through the Bring It Home Rental Assistance program to become operational dollars by next spring or summer.
Mongeau inquired if allocated dollars typically are held up for two years, as some of these funds have done, and Lee said between six to 18 months is average.
Commissioner Paul Krabbenhoft, Dist. 1, addressed the issue of homelessness, and said he feels that through the difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic that agencies have been depleting funds to help at a local level.
Commissioner Kevin Campbell, Dist. 4, added that he doesn’t like the financial burden of this issue being pushed on local governments, and wishes that the state would have a uniform plan to distribute housing funds more equitably.
“To put the solution to all that on counties and property tax I think is wrong,” Campbell said. “I think the appropriate entities that should step up are the states.”
Campbell said if one county puts forth more effort to combat homelessness, it will just attract those from other counties for the services.
“You’ve got to have a solution that is going to work no matter what county you’re in,” Campbell said.