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Politics & Government

City Portion of Many Rosemount Tax Bills Could Remain Stable

The City Council adopted a 1.26-percent preliminary levy increase Tuesday night.

Many Rosemount homeowners won’t see a difference in the city portion of their 2013 tax bills if the City Council sticks to the preliminary levy tax levy it unanimously approved Tuesday night.

The city’s 1.26-percent preliminary levy hike would mean that homeowners whose properties are valued at the city median—$194,100 for 2013—would pay the same amount in city taxes next year as they did in 2012.

The preliminary levy is used by the county auditor to determine a homeowner’s truth-in-taxation statement. Those statements are mailed in November, weeks before city governments are mandated to approve the actual levy.

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City governments can approve a lower actual levy in December. However, under normal circumstances, the levy cannot go higher.

Council member Jeff Weisensel said many residents he has encountered during campaigning want the city portion of their tax statement reduced.

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“There are many out there who are still struggling and are really looking to see what the city can do around innovation and cost-cutting,” he said.

Jeff May, the city’s finance director, defended the preliminary levy figure.

“In essence, because of all the things we are doing now, I think we have become much more efficient,” he said. “We are adding amenities and maintaining those amenities. And yet, we still are not increasing taxes, where there have been a lot of folks who have added amenities and added operational costs. We are adding those operational costs, but we’re still finding other ways to make cuts or find savings in order to still maintain [a] zero [increase.]

“Zero, in some cases, actually is a positive.”

The median tax bill in Rosemount has shrunk from $1,058 in 2008 to the proposed $854 in 2013, according to city budget documents.

Over that time, the median home value in the city has dropped roughly 28 percent, said Mayor Bill Droste.

“All of our communities have seen decreases of 20 or 30 percent in the values of our homes,” he said.

The city’s 2013 preliminary levy is $130,000 more than last year. Additional tax dollars to be spent on fire department compensation, union contracts, operations at the proposed senior center and unkeep at the new ballfields at UMore Park. Offsetting the spending increases are a decrease of $60,000 in the city’s debt levies and the retirement of two full-time employees whose positions were not refilled.

Click here to view Rosemount’s budget documents.

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