06-22-88 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES City Council June 22, 1988 Taxes The thir•d r•atio Mr•. War~d descr•ibed was a 21 month aggr•egate r~atio compar~ing (Cont.) sales to estimated market value. This r~atio is used to determine distri- bution of school aids and is pr•epar•ed for this single use. This was the information used err•oneously in the study. War•d then posed the question, is Ramsey County valuing pr~operty in Little Canada any higher or• lower~ than other• cities. War•d r~eplied that the answer~ is yes and no, and went on to explain in detail that valuations of cer•tain pr~operties, such as condominiums, have been found to be slightly higher than the average acr•oss the county. As a r•esult the County has adjusted condominium values slightly downwar~d. At the same time the sales r•atio for single-family residential pr~oper•ty has been slightly lower• in Little Canada than the County as a whole, and next year~t~Jard anticipates raising these values slightly higher•. War~d pointed out that ther~e is some disequalization in any given community or proper~ty type and estimated that the County could be plus or~ minus 2 or~ 3 per•centage points in any instance. War•d pointed out that assessors will var•y in the values they place on pr~oper•ties, especially in instances of r•apidly changing mar•kets. When valuing pr•oper~ty ther~e is a plus or minus ar•ea of 10%. 6Jar~d stated that, in his opinion, the way the Citizens League used this data in their• sur•vey was not a cor•r~ect inter•pr•etation of the data or• a legitimate use of the data. War~d r•epor~ted that the County is constantly tr~ying to impr•ove assessment methods and analysis of sales data to do a better~ job of equalization of pr~operty values. War•d stated that he believes the County is becoming closer• to tr~ue market value and is tr•ying to tighten pr~oper~ty values to 95% of the market value. Scalze expressed concer•n that the newspaper~ article is not cor•r•ectable at this point. Scalze pointed out that the headlines in the ar•ticle may have changed the mind of a developer who might have been considering locating a development in Little Canada. Fahey suggested that he wr•ite a letter• to the editor•. Fahey expr~essed concer~n that the newspaper~ discussed the ar•ticle with the City of St. Paul previous to printing it, but never contacted Little Canada. tdar•d commented that the numbers used in the article are str•ictly pr•eliminary and not public except to the Citizens League. War•d stated that the Citizens League used this data impr~oper•ly in the method it went about constr•ucting its model. fahey r•epor~ted that he would be r•equesting a r•etr~action of the article. Fahey thanked Mr•. War•d and the City Auditor• for~ their• presentations. Taco John's Mr•. Cr~aig Holland, r~epresenting Taco John's, appear~ed befor•e the Council explaining their desire to constr•uct a larger building on their present Agenda site. The existing building is 1,000 squar•e feet in size and Taco John's Item No. 10 would like to constr•uct an 1,800 squar•e foot facility. Page -16-