By Sara StrongThe city of Luverne is boasting a tax levy increase for 2005 that most property owners won’t notice.City taxpayers will contribute about $744,697 to the governmental budget, which is about $3.8 million. The remainder comes from state aid and payments in lieu of taxes from city enterprise funds that make money, such as utilities and the municipal liquor store. Those payments in lieu of taxes are made because private businesses of the same nature would pay property taxes. It is a sort of property tax relief.The Luverne City Council will discuss the budget and pass a preliminary levy at its next regular meeting, Sept. 7. The levy is certified in December.The levy increases from last year’s will be about 3.7 percent. Most property owners won’t notice a 3.7 percent increase in the city portion of their property taxes because the tax base has increased. The overall business and residential growth means less is needed from individuals who all share in the total levy collection.Along with the levy, the council will next week discuss and likely pass utility rate increases.Utility rate changes City Administrator Greg LaFond and city staff calculated the effects of the proposed rate changes on the average residential user.The wastewater rate will actually return to what it was from 1995 to 2000. The refuse and recycling increase will be about $1 per month more. The rates will increase 15 percent in 2005; 10 percent in 2006, and 5 percent in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This fund was the source of some discussion, because without increasing rates, the city would have to change how it did business.It would have the options of: not collecting recyclables every week; laying off staff and privatizing collection; or finding an alternative site to use for a landfill and transfer station. Luverne’s municipal solid waste is taken to the Rock County Transfer Station. Tipping fees there are $85,000 for 2004. They are expected to increase to $95,000 in 2005 because glass is no longer accepted as a recyclable.Mayor Glen Gust said the importance of a service like the transfer station can’t be overlooked. Remembering the public outcry after the city decided to close the compost dump last summer, Gust said, "If we cause problems at the transfer station, we might as well shoot ourselves in the head, not the foot."The Luverne City Council said it wanted to continue using the local transfer station because without Luverne’s business, it would likely close, or have drastically different hours.Luverne contributed 82 percent of the waste generated at the transfer site in 2002.