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The Pipestone County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) had a deficit of $308,172 in 2023, according to the annual audit report. Matt Taubert with Meulebroeck, Taubert & Co., who presented the audit report to the SWCD Board on May 8, said the deficit was primarily due to building improvement expenditures for the Pipestone County Government Center Southwest at 1016 Eighth Ave. SW, which the SWCD moved into in 2023.
“Without that, you would have gone forward by just about $9,800,” Taubert said. “That was a planned deficit, if you will. Those were funds that were carried forward from previous years and the fact that you had fund balance available to use allowed you to do that without any borrowing or that type of thing. You were able to use it out of reserves.”
Taubert said the SWCD received a clean, unqualified opinion on its audit, which is “the highest opinion we can render on your financials.”
According to the audit report, the SWCD had revenue of $784,131 in 2023. That included $728,158 from intergovernmental sources, $47,738 from charges for services, $7,875 from investment earnings and $360 from miscellaneous sources.
Expenditures totaled $1,092,303. Of that, $763,921 was spent on conservation efforts and $328,382 was spent on capital outlay.
The $308,172 deficit reduced the fund balance to $230,996.
Taubert said the SWCD has a fund balance policy indicating that it should have 35 percent to 50 percent of the next year’s budgeted expenditures in its unassigned fund balance and the SWCD had about 32 percent. He said that was primarily due to expenditures related to the building.
In other business, the SWCD Board approved a farmer mentor agreement intended “to promote soil health adoption through peer-to-peer mentoring of local farmers by experienced mentors able to provide stability and knowledge to new adopters implementing change in their farming.” The mentors will be responsible for providing technical assistance for farmers transitioning to incorporating soil health practices and assisting the SWCD with outreach and educational efforts such as field days, workshops, and other activities, on an as needed basis.
The term of the agreement is three years. The mentors will be paid an hourly rate of $80 per hour and shall not exceed 40 hours in a year unless they receive prior written approval from the SWCD.
SWCD Conservationist Shannon Bootsma said Jerry Houselog, Ryan Bootsma, Richard Cunningham and Tom Griebel had signed agreements to be mentors. Two others had expressed interest, but had not yet returned their agreements.