Cathy Leighton wrote: > I think it is naive to ask for property tax increases until the big picture > is a whole lot more clear than it is right now. As a reminder from a > previous post, anyone who feels strongly that their taxes should be > increased can send a check to the government entity of their choice and I > encourage them to do so. (Maybe some of the legal types on the list can let > them know if a donation to the city can be designated to a specific purpose > like police or fire.)
The picture is pretty clear for the finance geeks. Part of the problem is that it is completely counter-intuitive to the lay person and the City has not done a good job of explaining what is going on. Let me take a spin. First off, only 40% of your tax bill is for municipal purposes. 60% goes to the schools, the county, paying off the garbage burner, the Met Council, the Mosquito Control district, the watershed district, etc. So when you look at your tax bill overall, there are lots of different budgets to look at. Second off, your taxes are for different things, some of which are fixed and some which are not. The things that are usually considered fixed are the debt service which are for bonds which have been previously sold and pension levies which are sort of mandated by the State. Debt payments from property taxes are increasing because of the levies approved for the libraries and because of how the legislature changed the law for special levies to relieve commercial property and shift the burden to residential property. The only levies considered "variable" typically are those that are used for operating, which include levies for the City proper, the Park Board, the Library Board, and the Municipal Building Commission. And within these, there are basic fixed costs, like the cost of personnel and materials as well as financial plans that lay out goals that the City wants to achieve. Third off, it is counter-intuitive but if you are an average homeowner in the City, your taxes are going up. But the amount of taxes being collected by the City is going down in real terms. This is because of huge property tax breaks given to business and wealthy property owners. It is important for people to understand that this is not a crisis that came to us - this is a crisis that has been created by the Legislature. I think the better question that folks need to be asking is why has the Legislature given these huge tax breaks to these groups, are the impacts on programs for our citizens acceptable, and if not, what needs to be done to reverse these changes? I personally think that the tax cuts for these groups have gone too far, especially those for the rich given the dramatic reductions in services for citizens that they require. I also think that Minnesotans would be better served by asking one question of any politician who boasts of cutting taxes, namely "Whose taxes specifically did you cut?" because I think for most Minnesotans they have seen neither a reduction in their taxes nor an improvement in their services. Carol Becker Longfellow 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
