From the Albert Lea Tribune, August 18, 2015
"The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a half-cent sales tax to help repair county roads and bridges. The county is aiming for the tax to take effect Jan. 1, 2016, said 5th District Commissioner Mike Lee.

"We've talked this over quite a bit and it's something we need to move forward with," said Glen Mathiason, District 1 commissioner. "It's the right thing to do to try to help us with our roads."

Dan Belshan, District 2 commissioner, said the half-cent sales tax wasn't ideal.

"It's unfortunate that we have to do this, but due to road funding changes at the state level it's something that needs to be done," Belshan said.

The sales tax for the Shell Rock River Watershed District, located within the city limits of Albert Lea, will be 7.875 percent beginning Jan.1. The sales tax outside the city of Albert Lea will be 7.375 percent."

Recently the US Department of Labor officially proposed new overtime rules to raise the threshold for exempt employees. The proposed rules would double the current salary of $23,660 per year to $50,440 in 2016 for retail managers and other employees to be exempt from overtime pay.

Retailers provide competitive wages and salaries for Minnesotans across the state; forcing retail operations to pay overtime to salaried employees who work over 40 hours per week and make up to$50,440 per year will hurt the flexibility of hiring practices by significantly adding to labor costs.

The National Retail Federation's recent Oxford Economics study estimates that the proposed increase to $50,440 per year would affect 2.2 million retail and restaurant employees and cost businesses $8.4 billion per year.  Vast differences in retail store operations makes a one-size fits-all increase approach to overtime rules unrealistic and unfair.

Current Law:
Minnesota retailers currently pay time and a half to all hourly-wage employees that work more than 40 hours in one week.

• All employees that earn up to $23,660 a year are currently entitled to overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in one week. Employees making more than $23,660 a year that are not designated as Managers are also entitled to overtime pay.
• Salaried employees on professional career tracks as Managers and Assistant Managers are currently exempt from overtime pay if they have a supervisory role over other workers and make more than $23,660 per year.
• Managers who are reclassified as "non-exempt" because of the rule would likely lose incentive compensation opportunities, flexibility, training, and the professional status they highly value. The proposed rule would also lead to fewer career advancement opportunities for hourly workers as middle management ranks shrink.

We need your help in voicing retail's strong concerns about this new federal rule. Before September 4, we need you to tell Labor Department that retailers oppose the proposed increase in the salary level, any attempt to annually increase the salary level, and any changes to the duties test. Personal Stories are always impactful.