On Wednesday, June 23, 2004, at 09:57 AM, Victoria Heller wrote:
Minneapolis taxpayers should keep a copy of this statement handy when they
vote for things like the new $100 million glass palace library. How much do
you think it will cost to heat and cool this greenhouse? Where will the
money come from?
I maintain that if Minneapolis voters had been told the truth about the
mountains of debt they faced, they would have lived with the old library for
a while longer.
Laura Waterman Wittstock wrote:
The "mountains of debt" come to an annual $5.25 per home owner (home valued at $103,500) in 2001, going to $58.69 in 2005 and at that level until 2030.
Or do your own math on your home in 2005 by multiplying the assessor's estimated market value by .000567083.
I did my own math, and was shocked. The amount I pay in property taxes for the library system in 2005 will be about three-hundred percent of what I paid this year. And I'll be paying on the debt for the next 25 years as well, while my doubtlessly ever increasing market value will likewise continue to increase the amount I pay -- at a rate faster than inflation, too, I'll bet.
Incidentally, the median home value in Minneapolis in 2001 was $127,009 and the average for single-family homes was $163,967, so I'm not sure why the example home was valued at only $103,500. The median price climbed to $149,000 in 2002 according to the city. I don't have more recent figures, but it's obvious prices continue to climb.
So was this whole thing sold on the idea that it would only cost $5.25 per home? I don't recall, but it's a misleading number.
Chris Johnson - Fulton
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