Rochester city budget still feeling COVID effects

Rochester city budget still feeling COVID effects

ROCHESTER — The 2020 pandemic’s impact is lingering in Rochester’s annual budget discussions. Rochester City Administrator Alison Zelms said a 2020 decision to hold the city’s property tax levy flat after COVID reached the city has made it difficult to fund city services in recent years without increasing a tax rate that has remained relatively steady for the past decade. “It’s challenging to stay below the prior historical average while trying …