Agenda - Council - 06/09/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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GOVERNMENTAL FUNDS OVERVIEW This section of the report provides you with an overview of the financial trends and activities of the City's governmental funds, which includes the General, special revenue, debt service, and capital project funds. These funds are used to account for the basic services the City provides to all of its citizens, which are financed primarily with property taxes. The governmental fund information in the City's financial statements focuses on budgetary compliance, and the sufficiency of each governmental fund's current assets to finance its current liabilities. PROPERTY TAXES Minnesota cities rely heavily on local property tax levies to support their governmental fund activities. For the 2013 fiscal year, local property tax levies provided 41.1 percent of the total governmental fund revenues for cities over 2,500 in population, and 35.5 percent for cities under 2,500 in population. Property tax levies certified by Minnesota cities for 2014 increased about 1.6 percent over 2013, compared to an increase of 2.3 percent the prior year. This moderate increase was due in part to a one-year levy limit for 2014 imposed on cities over 2,500 in population. The total market value of Minnesota cities increased about 1.1 percent for the 2014 levy year, ending a four-year trend of declining market values that began in 2010 and peaked with a state-wide decline of about 8.8 percent for levy year 2012. Market values showed modest increases in all property categories for 2014, with the largest gains in agricultural and non -homestead residential properties. Because the assessed valuation used for levying property taxes is based on values from the previous fiscal year (e.g. the market value for taxes payable in 2014 is based on estimated values as of January 1, 2013), market value improvement has lagged behind recent upturns in the housing market and the economy in general. The City's taxable market value decreased 6.9 percent for taxes payable in 2013 and 0.6 percent for taxes payable in 2014. The following graph shows the City's changes in taxable market value over the past 10 years: $2,500,000,000 $2,000,000,000 $1,500,000,000 $1,000,000,000 $500,000,000 Taxable Market Value 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 N