NEW ULM – In a report delivered to the District 88 School Board Thursday night, New Ulm’s city manager said the city’s population is holding steady at 14,137 people, which is roughly over half of Brown County’s total population of 25,723.

Chris Dalton provided the board with local demographics and update on development projects.

Dalton also reported that the median age of New Ulm residents is between 38.9 to 43.

“Its been on the downward trend for at least the last ten years,” Dalton said. “Contrary to what everyone thinks, we are getting slightly younger.”

Around 33% of New Ulm residents have a bachelors degree or higher. The average household size is 2.2, which is also increasing. Around 77% of households are owner occupied. This means most families own homes rather than rent. Dalton said this was a good thing because it meant most households were committed to laying down roots and staying in the community.

Dalton said in terms of cost-of-living, the county was third lowest in Minnesota. Medium income is slightly lower than state average, but residents pay less for county services than most.

Dalton said in trying to recruit people and businesses to relocate in New Ulm, the city highlights utility reliability. Power outages are relatively few and much of the older infrastructure has been replaced or is in the process of being replaced.

“Probably within the next five to eight years, major road construction will stop on our major streets,” he said. After all underground work is complete, roadwork would be limited to mills and overlays.

School board chairman Steve Gag asked if taxes were likely to go down once the major road projects are completed, or if another budget item would replace it.

Dalton said he expected taxes to decrease once major road projects were complete. The city typically bonds for road projects. Without the need for bonding, the city’s debt service should shrink. He said there are likely needed upgrades to the wastewater and water treatment infrastructure on the horizon that could require bonding. However, it is possible the state and federal government could provide assistance on those projects.

Dalton said in promoting New Ulm, the city pushes quality of life benefits. New Ulm spends the most per capita on parks in Minnesota with 44 parks and facilities on the system. It is also one of only three cities with a state park in city limits.

Affordable housing remains a challenge in the community. Median home price is New Ulm is $220,298. The average rent right now for a one-bedroom apartment is around $937 with the median around $825.

Dalton said a typical family with two adults and one child would need both parents to earn $14.12 an hour to live in Brown County.

Dalton closed the presentation, talking about four housing projects on the city’s horizon. The George’s Ballroom site is being developed into an 88 apartment units. Demolition of George’s is in progress and should be complete by January 2025. The new apartments to be built on the site are expected to be complete in late fall 2026.

The Marktplatz Mall development project is looking at between 16 and 30 apartment units, but this could increase. Dalton said planning for this project is still underway. The developers will need to have a firm number of apartments planned by Feb. 2025 to apply for redevelopment grants and loans.

Near the high school, a new 100 unit housing project is planned for Maplewood and Highland. This project previously started as Dreamville under different developers. Greenlaw Homes took over the project last Feb. and renamed it River Haven. River Haven will have roughly 100 units in two residential towers. Twin homes will also be built directly across from the existing homes on Maplewood. Dalton said these twin homes will be for sale rather than rent. Dalton said construction at River Haven could start in the second quarter of 2025.

A fourth mixed use development is also planned on Broadway just north of Broadway Haus apartments. The city recently moved a house off 320 N. Broadway to sell the lot and two others to a developer. The plan is to construct a new mix-use building with nine residential units and two commercial spaces.