Minutes - Council - 12/04/2000 - Truth in Taxation Public Hearing

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Councihnember Connolly added that sometimes the County is unable to view the property and, therefore, makes assumptions. Willie Wimmer, 8900 - 167"~ Lane NW, Ramsey, asked about levies, which Ms. Lund explained. Sandy Bertzyk, 6001 - 146th Avenue NW, Ramsey, stated that she knows a lady who lives in Andover and her taxes did not go up and she felt it is because they allow more houses to be built so there are more to share the taxes. She wondered why Ramsey is only allowing 50 houses to be built and also why Anoka County is not making Andover's value go up to within 95% of the sale value. Mayor Gamec talked about the development moratorium. Ms. Bertzyk recollected a development plan presented by Pulte which would have brought in $400,000, and suggested that Council should keep that in mind. She inquired about tax capacity rate, which Ms. Lund explained. Ms. Bertzyk asked if when the market value goes down, will her value and taxes go down too. Councilmember Hendriksen responded that in the year houses are built, the City collects plan check fees, etc., however, there is a shortfall generated by each residential unit and that goes on forever. That shortfall is subsidized by commercial. If we add several hundred houses, the shortfall will be multiplied. The City is trying to build up commercial so it can take care of that shortfall. He added that residential units in Minnesota do not pay a fair share of taxes. Ms. Bertzyk stated that some businesses come in under something special where they do not have to pay for taxes for five years. Counci hnember Hendriksen replied that is Tax Increment Financing and explained how it works. Ms. Bertzyk referred to the Chamber magazine's description of Ramsey and stated that she does not feel that we are tax stable right now. She asked for assurance this will not happen next year. Jim Wendt, 8500 - 173''d Avenue NW, Ramsey, mentioned the young family gaining equity in their home but they cannot afford to stay there because wages are not as high. We have a system that is not working well. Some land is made more valuable in certain areas of the City. If wages and income kept going up as well, that would be fine. Councihnember Anderson explained comparable sales and the fact that that is what the property value is based on. MI'. Wendt reiterated that equity is good, but you cannot eat it and you cannot spend it. These big jumps in valuations should be done in increments. Peter Stanius, 15781 Azurite Court NW, Ramsey, stated that he just moved to Ramsey and the tax increase is difficult to handle. He noted that the budget is going up about $360,000 from last year and three items - Police, Fire and Building Inspection takes up about $300,000. He suggested maybe some of these increases should be spread out over a couple of years. City Council Budget Public Hearing (Truth in Taxation) - December 4, 2000 Page 3 of 5