12-12-90 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 12, 1990 those cities with little commercial development felt the old formula was unfair. The old formula spread costs based on 1/3 events, 1/3 area, and 1/3 population. Fahey reported on studies that were conducted which showed the the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department was still the most economical way to provide police protection for the City. Fahey also reported that the City has been working with the Sheriff's Department to change some policies and procedures to keep costs down. Bob DeBace asked if the City received a share of fines from prosecutions. It was pointed out that the City has budgeted $35,000 in revenue under Fines & Forfeitures for 1991. A resident asked about the City's #1 tax status as reported this past summer in the newspaper. Scalze replied that this status was reported by the Citizens League. However, the facts are that the City of Little Canada ranks 46 out of 98 as far as the City's tax levy, while the School District ranked #2 and the County was in the middle. The combination of these three taxing authorities resulted in the #1 status. Fahey pointed out that in the early 1960's and 1970's when the City was developing its sanitary sewer and water systems, the City choose to sell bonds for these improvements, rather than assess the improvements as many other cities have done. Therefore, while the cost of these improvements shows up in property taxes, the cost of similar improvements in other cities show up on property tax statements as special assessments. The Citizens League took into account only property taxes in their study and not special assessments. Therefore, the study is misleading. Fahey reported that every year the City has made efforts to reduce indebtedness and refinanced bonds where possible to improve the financial condition of the City. The City Administrator pointed out that the City of Roseville, for example, has substantial tax base over which to spread their levies. Also, the Citizens League study factors in the equalization rate of each jurisdiction. The State requires the average valuation of all properties to be at a minimum of 90% of market value based on actual sales data. Ramsey County is at about 95%, while other counties in the State are at less than 90% This factor effects the results of the study, when estimated taxes on an $80,000 house were calculated. The equalization rate in effect was used as a discount. Taxes are not calculated in this manner. Page 9