Rochester, MN (KROC AM News) - A significant portion of the proposed increase in Olmsted County’s property tax levy is directly linked to the ongoing problems with MNsure.

The County Board recently certified the county’s preliminary 2017 property tax levy at about $92 million. That would be an increase of $2.3 million or 2.5-percent when compared to the current county property tax levy.

Olmsted County Commissioners Jim Bier and Ken Brown discussed the proposed tax increase Tuesday morning during an appearance on KROC-AM with Rich Peterson on Rochester’s Good Morning. The elected officials say about $800,000, or nearly a third of the increase, is the result of problems and inefficiencies in MNsure, which Bier referred to as a “cobbled up system.”

Most of the money will be used to hire five additional employees to verify that people signing up for Medicaid or MinnesotaCare coverage through MNsure actually meet the income criteria to be eligible for the public health programs. That is a process that was supposed to be an automated function of the online marketplace, which has never operated properly. Statewide, the commissioners say Minnesota counties have had to add 250 workers to deal with the problem, including 70 additional employees hired by Hennepin County to handle the paperwork.

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