Vicky writes: > The pension fund paid $141 million for the Fifth Street Towers in 1996 (the > best and brightest money managers no doubt!) The same buildings are about > to be sold for $110 to $118 million. I wonder if the public employees in > Oregon know about this debacle. > > Hennepin County and Minneapolis got the shaft too because the buildings are > only valued at $82.6 million for tax purposes - quite a haircut if you ask > me. Kind of cute though that the public employees in Oregon are screwing > the public employees in Minneapolis.
Hmmm....as any property owner well knows, the asking price is not the getting price. So it would be difficult for Hennepin County to value Fifth Street Towers at a selling price it hasn't received yet. (Wait until after it's sold - then see what the assessment is!) Also, as any property owner knows, their property is rarely assessed at the amount it could be sold for. I'd be all for raising valuations across the board, but you'd probably hear bleating from the property-rights crowd on that. Also, as any property owner knows, the market goes up as well as down. My guess is that Fifth Street Towers, now one of the older office buildings in town, has suffered with new office buildings coming on line. But those new office buildings are NOT privately subsidized. So this is the glorious free market working its magic, creating winners and losers. (And of course, all the new buildings that are putting pressure on Fifth Street Towers are new taxpayers into the city's tax base.) So there's no way that anyone in Oregon is, ahem "screwing" Minneapolis - at least if you believe in market forces. David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
