DOUBLE DIGIT INCREASES
IN VICTORIA PROPERTY VALUATIONS
Councilmembers held the Truth in Taxation Hearing on Monday evening, December 3^rd, at 6:00 p.m. 

More than a handful of residents showed up to express their views on the "breathtaking" increase in valuations placed on their property by the Carver County Assessor's Office - this despite the fact that Mayor Mary Thun opened the hearing by announcing, "We are here to discuss taxes, not value of property."
Of course, property taxes are calcu-lated on property valuations.
Councilmember Kim Roden com-mented on her specific property valuation.  "Our home went up in value by 15.9%," she said.  "I could not believe the num-bers.  Still don't believe the numbers.  I'll be in front of the county next March ... I've never had a tax bill take my breath away."
A resident at Lake Virginia Shores said his property valuation went up by 15%. 
A resident at Zumbra Ridge saw a 17.3% increase.  "I love my neighbor-hood and I love Victoria," she said.  "My heart goes out to people who have lived here a long time and live on a fixed in-come.  I hope you all get on the band-wagon for a little bit of hope."
A resident on Rolling Acres Road said, "I've got you all beat.  Our property value went up 19.2%."
Another resident stated, "Taxes are really hurting us.  This is not that big of a city.  At the end of the day, we have a heck of a tax bill."
A resident asked Councilmember Roden, "Do you think you have a chance at that March meeting?"
Replied Kim, "That's a very good question ... The bottom line is that the State has encouraged the County to get to 100 to 105% of value.  Our valuations are in fact a year behind.  Our current valuation are based on 2006."
"Sometimes the facts help us under-stand the pain," she explained.  "Victoria has very little industry.  We have a 50% drop in permit fees.  Forty percent of our land mass is in lakes and parks.  Lakes and parks don't pay taxes.  We're trying to add commercial and industrial zoning but it won't be a lot and it will still be a while."
Mayor Thun said that there are areas in which councilmembers budgeted for an expansion of services for 2008.  "We are growing and we have more infra-structure," she said.
The expanded services include $40,000 for two new sirens since there are two areas of the city that can't hear emergency sirens.  There are salaries and benefits for a Field House Parks & Rec Director as well as a Director of Public Works.  There is an increase of $27,000 in services from the Carver County Sheriff's Department.
"We are trying to watch every fund," the mayor explained.  In speaking of prop-erty valuations she said, "You've got a program that's trying to catch up to 100% while at the same time valuations are falling."
The mayor added, "It's hard to compare us with other cities.  Chaska and Chanhassen are more fully developed.  Carver taxes are high because they're also growing."
Councilmember Jim Paulsen stated, "The cost of government in Victoria is high.  We have $1.8 million in interfund loans.  We also burned up $800,000 for the Field House.  That's close to $3 million to cover."
"Our goal is to get to 2009 to 2010," he said.  "That's when we'll see light at the end of the tunnel, we hope."  He add-ed, "In Minnesota we're self satisfied.  Employment growth in Minnesota has hardly moved 1%.  Employment growth in Carver County has hardly moved 1%."
He concluded, however, "Whatever Victoria does, Victoria wants to do well.  Victoria has an opportunity for the future.  I think the future is really bright."
Councilmember Tim Amundsen said, "It's difficult to draw industry into the State of Minnesota ... It's very difficult to maintain quality services and levy tax in-creases, but we can't continue to put things off.  The Field House has been a shutter stop.  The School District is get-ting a deal, but you're not going to see School and County budgets decrease either.  I can't offer you a warm fuzzy for the next five, ten, fifteen years."
"The School District is a huge budget for taxpayers, but I'm not saying it's not worth it ... Governments can't forget that they're reaching into their own pockets ... We don't have the solutions.  We need people, residents and taxpayers, to step forward and help us, people with experi-ence and expert backgrounds."

City Finance Director Jylan Johnson pointed out that the School District takes a larger chunk of property taxes than the City or the County.  She said that out of every property tax dollar, the City of Victoria gets 28-cents.  She also said that 82% of city revenue comes from property taxes and most of those properties are single family residential homes.
City Administrator Steve Sarvi said there are cities, like Lanesboro, where even a higher percentage of their budget is dependent on property taxes.  He added, "And just because you locate a factory in your city doesn't mean your taxes will go down.  That's just not the case."
There was not enough time to finish the Truth and Taxation hearing.  It was continued to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, De-cember 13.

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