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• Q: Does the transit tax that Anoka County started only affect county roads? <br />• A: Anoka County's tax funds transit systems but not roads. <br />• Q: Right now, we're being taxed to service $500,000 for the maintenance side. How much are <br />we being taxed to service the debt? <br />• A: You're being taxed on close to $5 million and a little over $1.25 million would be assessed. <br />• Q: Would it work for us right now to do a combination of tax levies and assessments? <br />• A: By year ten, you'll basically have ten road debt levies. If things remained constant in terms of <br />growth, the tax levy would go up. <br />Assessments <br />• Q: Does the assessment cost vary based on the size of the house? <br />• A: In Ramsey's projects, usually lots in the assessed area are very similar and thus receiving a <br />similar benefit — so their assessment would be similar. <br />• Q: What's the most popular funding option among cities? <br />• A: Assessments are the most popular. But even Edina, for instance, is running into the same <br />problem we are and they're looking at options. <br />• Q: Is the 75% the city pays toward assessments based on property value? <br />• A: Yes. <br />• Q: Tax or fee is the same thing — you're going to assess it on a bill. But with property taxes, you <br />can write it off. You can't write off a franchise fee, whereas raising property taxes would allow <br />people to write it off. <br />• A: It's important to note that you can't write off a special assessment. Property taxes that <br />provide specific benefits that increase the value of the property (which includes road <br />improvements) may not be deducted. Under federal income tax guidelines, you cannot deduct <br />assessments that are for local benefits. The interest portion of an assessment could be deducted <br />if broken out separately on the tax bill, which is normally not itemized via principal and interest. <br />• Q: Are you saying that your street assessment would be the same whether you have a large or a <br />small lot? <br />• A: Within the same neighborhood/assessment area, if it's smaller, it would be the same — a <br />lower cost. But larger neighborhoods would pay a larger cost. <br />• Q: How are these assessments fair? How do they justify it? <br />• A: We understand the frustration — there are things built into a system that raise the cost of <br />projects, such as the fact that we need to account for people fighting assessments. <br />Franchise Fee Logistics <br />