Chamber Statement on Local Government Budgets

Thank you for serving the community as an elected official and making difficult decisions to improve the area.

Local Government Budgets:

To: Owatonna City Council, Steele County Commissioners

From: Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce

Re: 2025 Budgets

Recognizing the challenges of making decisions that impact many facets of the businesses and residents, it’s the Owatonna Chamber’s goal to provide you perspectives from our business members.

The Chamber supports pro-growth policies that will have long term impact for the community. Expenditures that are complicated, but important like:

Road infrastructure
Waste Water Treatment expansion
Tax Increment Financing for development projects

This includes future projects like the East Side Corridor, which the Chamber supports.

Budget concerns from the business community come when analyzing year over year increases in operating costs that have a compounding effect on the budget and the commitment of the taxpayer.

The Owatonna Chamber, on behalf of the 550 businesses and organizations who are members, encourages local governments to look for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce the levy before their final votes in December.