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Tax Levies for General Obligation Bonds (Minnesota Statutes, §475.61) The governing body of any municipality issuing general obligations shall, prior to delivery of the obli- gations, levy by resolution a direct general ad valorem tax upon all taxable property in the municipality to be spread upon the tax rolls for each year of the term of the obligations. The tax levies for all years shall be specified and such that if collected in full they, together with estimated collections of special assessments and other revenues pledged for the payment of said obligations, will produce at least five percent in excess of the amount needed to meet when due the principal and interest payments on the obligations. Such resolution shall irrevocably appropriate the taxes so levied and any special assess- ments or other revenues so pledged to the municipality's debt service fund or a special debt service fund or account created for the payment of one or more issues of obligations. The governing body may, at its discretion, at any time after the obligation have been authorized, adopt a resolution levying only a portion of such taxes, to be filed, assessed, extended, collected and remitted as hereinafter provided, and the amount or amounts therein levied shall be credited against the tax required to be levied prior to delivery of the obligations. The recording officer of the municipality shall file in the office of the county auditor of each county in which any part of the municipality is located a certified copy of the resolution, together with full in- formation regarding the obligations for which the tax is levied. No further action by the municipality is required to authorize the extension, assessment and collection of the tax, but the municipality's liability on the obligations is not limited thereto and its governing body shall levy and cause to be extended, assessed and collected any additional taxes found necessary for full payment of the principal and inter- est. The auditor shall annually assess and extend upon the tax rolls the amount specified for such year in the resolution, unless the amount has been reduced as authorized below or, if the municipality is lo- cated in more than one county, the portion thereof that bears the same ratio to the whole amount as the tax capacity value of taxable property in that part of the municipality located in his county bears to the tax capacity value of all taxable property in the municipality. Tax levies so made and filed shall be irrevocable, except that if the governing body in any year makes an irrevocable appropriation to the debt service fund of moneys actually on hand or if there is on hand any excess amount in the debt service fund, the recording officer may certify to the county auditor the fact and amount thereof and the auditor shall reduce by the amount so certified the amount otherwise to be included in the rolls next thereafter prepared. All such taxes shall be collected and remitted to the municipality by the county treasurer as other taxes are collected and remitted, and shall be used only for payment of the obligations on account of that levied or to repay advances from other funds used for such payments, except that any surplus remain- ing in the debt service fund when the obligations and interest thereon are paid may be appropriated to any other general purpose by the municipality. Levy Limitations The 1999 Minnesota Legislature established levy limitations for all counties and for all cities over 2,500 population that will be effective for taxes collected in 1999 and 2000. The computations of levy limits were determined by the Commissioner of Revenue and were available for each city /town and county as of August 1, 1999. The levy limits will not apply to certain "special levies" which will in- clude levies to pay debt service. See Property Tax Classifications on following page for partial sum - mary of 1999/2000 class rates percentages. Class Rate The factors (class rates) for converting estimated market value to net tax capacity represent a basic element of the State's property tax relief system and are therefore subject to annual revisions by the State Legislature. -22-