Chaska Herald - Comments

The fact that the levy isn't

seano — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:48:43 -0500

The fact that the levy isn't changing doesn't mean it's not a tax increase. If your property value is decreasing, but your tax isn't, they are in fact raising your taxes. Now, one may argue that it's worth the trade-off of potential lost services to do what the city is doing, but don't play semantic games and try to pretend it isn't.

The Chaska City Council

Greg Boe — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:12:14 -0500

The Chaska City Council normally meets on the first and third (and sometimes the fifth) Monday of each month. However, the first meeting in September will be moved from September 6 to the following Monday, September 13, because of the Labor Day Holiday.

We love you Grandpa! May you

Dreamwalkin14 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:08:38 -0500

We love you Grandpa! May you look down on us and keep us safe til we see you again! Jennifer

Sunday will be warmer

Greg Boe — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:40:39 -0500

Sunday will be warmer despite another cool start. We should enjoy mostly sunny skies today, with increasing clouds as the day progresses. Expect a high today around 74 degrees, along with winds from the south at around 10 mph. Tomorrow should be a few degrees warmer again, but we will see an increasing chance of showers later on Monday. So for now, get out there and enjoy a beautiful Sunday!

Our weather statistics include a high yesterday of 68 degrees, and a low last night of 44 (both of which are exactly 10 degrees below the average marks for today). At 6:00 a.m. our temperature was still sitting at 44 degrees, and our barometric pressure is 29.84" and slowly falling (a falling barometer generally indicates increasing chances of storms within the next 24-48 hours, while a rising barometer calls for a good likelihood of clear skies). The weather records for September 5 include a high temperature of 93 degrees (set in 1960), a low of 38 degrees (set just 2 years later, in 1962), and 2.57" of rain (which fell in 1946). Our sunrise and sunset times for today are 6:41 a.m. and 7:44 p.m., which represent the loss of almost 2.5 hours of daylight since June. The river has risen again, thanks to those copious rains upstream a few days ago, with the water sitting at 10.04 feet and flowing at 5390 cf/s this morning.

Reading what you just wrote

chaskacounterpoint — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:02:16 -0500

Reading what you just wrote can make any average tax paying american understand why the tax code and our country is a mess.
How do you say they will not increase the tax rate as it says in the article.

*Under the proposal, the tax rate will increase from 0.2189 to 0.2335.

One question for you. If my preperty value goes down and the amount of tax I pay remains the same is that a tax increase?

Another question if my property value goes down and the tax I pay goes up ony 30.00 is that a tax increase?

Brrrrr, this is a chilly

Greg Boe — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:24:03 -0500

Brrrrr, this is a chilly start to the long Holiday weekend, but it sure was good weather for sleeping last night! While our weekend has certainly started out with a cool and crisp feel of fall in the air, we should warm quickly this morning. We can expect a high later this afternoon around 68 degrees, with (thankfully) winds much lighter than yesterday. Sunday could be the nicest day of the weekend with a high in the middle 70's, before a chance of strong storms comes along later in the day on Monday.

According to the Statistics Department, our official high yesterday was 63 degrees in Chaska, while the low last night dipped to 44 degrees (incase you are interested, that 44 degree mark is the lowest temperature we've seen since May 18 when we dropped to 41 degrees overnight). The winds were definitely strong yesterday, with a peak gust of 43 mph (some rides were even shut down at the State Fair for a time yesterday, due to those high winds). Our records for today include a high temperature of 92 degrees (the first of three consecutive days with record heat back in 1960), a low temp of 34 degrees (set back in 1974), and 2.08" of rain (which fell from the sky on this day way back in 1911). The average high and low temperature in our area on September 4 is 78 and 55 degrees, respectively. The river rose by almost a foot overnight, sitting at 9.04 feet this morning and flowing at 4430 cubic feet/second.

The teacher in me can't help

toricla — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:03:28 -0500

The teacher in me can't help but try to explain this. The city did not increase the levy, therefore they did not increase the tax. The property tax system is not based on percentage rates. It is based on the comparative value of your home with all the others in your neighborhood, city, and county. See the article copied below. Since everyone's property values dropped, the comparative value of one home to another has not changed, so you will pay the same dollar amount of the levy as before, unless you made improvements to your home. It may feel like a tax increase, since you are paying a greater percentage of the (new, lower) value of your home, but according to the law, it is not.

From the website http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/assessor/property-taxes.asp Although it is Minneapolis, the system is the same across Minnesota.

How does my property value affect my property taxes?
Two major pieces of information affect the calculation of your property taxes. The first is the value of your property and how it relates to the total value of all property in the City of Minneapolis. The second is the total tax bill for all units of local government.

Here is a brief explanation of how the property tax system works. The City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minneapolis School District and other taxing authorities set their annual budgets. Next they determine how much of their budget they can get from sources other than tax levies, the rest of the money they need for their budget or tax levy will need to come from property taxes. The tax levy is the amount of money that must be collected from real estate property taxes to operate all the local government programs and services each year.

Your share of the total property tax dollars needed is determined by the market value and classification of your property, which result in a calculation of your share of the needed dollars or your tax capacity.

The needed property tax revenue (tax levy) is divided by your property’s tax capacity. The result is a set of mathematical calculations (tax rate) taking into consideration each taxing authorities need and any legal limits. The tax rate is used to spread the tax levy equally among all properties in the local government's area. It is the result of dividing the taxable value by the tax levy so that the levy is spread across each individual, taxable parcel.

The Minnesota Center for Public Finance Research, formerly known as the Minnesota Tax Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan group publishes a detailed annual booklet "Understanding Your Property Taxes". It is a good summary that goes into a much more detailed description of the process.

Karrie it does raise an

chaskacounterpoint — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:28:32 -0500

Karrie it does raise an eyebrow.

They are raising taxes plain and simple.
If you know so much why didn't previous councils lower the tax levy when home values were going up?
If you use the same logic you are using here wouldn't that have made sense? Instead they continued to stick it to the tax payers becuase their values were rising on their homes to feed the appetite of another layer of government. This current council and mayor can try to pretty it up as much as they want it is still a tax increase. They also raised taxes substanially last year and as many fees as they could. They need to cut and stop spending.

Here is the link to the Chaska Herald Article I was referring to on Windschitl wanting to delay making a decision. How do you interpret what was quoted?

http://www.chaskaherald.com/news/city-chaska-news/council-ponders-tax-hi...

To answer your other question.
I am not a good old boy or fireman so I could never get elected in Chaska. Why bother running.

City Engineer Bill Monk said

Mollee Francisco — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:16:15 -0500

City Engineer Bill Monk said Hundertmark should be open by the end of the day Friday.

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

About time, too. Holy

jmirick — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:01:13 -0500

About time, too. Holy smoke.

James R. Mirick
Chaska

They most certainly are

seano — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:31:14 -0500

They most certainly are debating whether or not to raise taxes. If the Council accepts the proposed rate change, your taxes will be higher than what they would be if the Council left them alone. That's a tax increase. Whether one feels such a move is justified or not is a matter on which reasonable people can disagree.

First Chaskacounterpoint,

KarrieO — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:56:08 -0500

First Chaskacounterpoint, get your facts straight. The meeting you reference was well before Mayor Windschitl knew it was going to be an uncontested race. So to imply that anything he said at that meeting was done for the reason that he was running uncontested is absolutely wrong and defamation on your part.

Secondly, the comment in question was made during a planning session where they do NOT vote. Additionally, the vote was not to delay until “after the election” as you write, the ask was “do we have to decide one way or another on this tonight or can we get out and talk to the citizens?” Again, there was no vote as it was during a planning session. I clarified this point with my City Council representative, which you could easily have done as well. Additionally what was reported in the Herald was not entirely accurate and the City Administrator, the Mayor and other Council members all discussed this with Mark Olson from the Herald. What was reported from that night, along with the headline were not an honest reflection of the conversation but hey they need to sell papers. Again, confirmed this when I spoke with my City Council rep to express my opinion on the matter.

Third, they were not asking or debating whether to RAISE taxes. The issue was should they leave them where they are even though home values may have dropped. It would NOT raise our taxes higher than they currently are, though it would not drop them given the decrease in home value either.

It’s pretty easy to sit there and throw accusations and make assumptions to make others look bad (or yourself feel good). Perhaps you should pick up the phone, send an email or visit in person with your City Council rep to better understand before jumping to conclusions and starting rumors.

Lastly, if you hate the current Mayor and Council so badly why is your name not on the ballot this Fall?

Karrie O’Brien

The city has known for

chaskacounterpoint — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:28:34 -0500

The city has known for several years now that these budgets deficits were looming. Each year the City Administrator has said we have made delays in hiring and equiptment. It has not worked.

So where are the cuts? It is time for the City of Chaska to get the red pen out and cut the fat. It is unthinkable given the economy that they would look to put more taxes on the backs of the residents.

Last year they gave raises to every city employee. I will tell you now that they better not try to pass any increase to any employee or elected official this year if they are going to come to the public and ask for more money.

I guess it is easy for Mayor Windschitl, who by the way asked to delay any decision on raising taxes until after the election, it is on the record at a council meeting so I am not making this up, to go ahead and raise our taxes. This my friends are the consequences of an uncontested mayoral race in Chaska.

Ward 3 and Ward 1 Residents. You have alternative candidates to vote for in November. Look at what their platforms are and make a decision based upon who will represent you best and your wallet.

Well, it's difficult to get

seano — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:30:24 -0500

Well, it's difficult to get a good grasp on it without seeing any of the detail.

(That's a hint to anybody from City Hall reading this -- please post the background documents on the city website before the Sept. 13 Council meeting)

Anytime there's a tax increase, there is going to be a sizable portion of the population that doesn't like it. I think it's only fair that the city "show its work" to back up the recommendation.

I also think it would be useful to see an alternative budget scenario that doesn't rely on raising taxes. What would have to be cut to balance the budget if the tax rates were unchanged?

I think it's a bad idea. On

seano — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:45 -0500

I think it's a bad idea. On most municipal issues, I'm hard-pressed to ascertain what the Democratic or Republican position is, and I hardly think that infecting local races with the intense partisanship that has made it impossible for anyone in St. Paul and Washington to get anything accomplished is a good thing.