2022 Management Letter - Laserfiche WebLink

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-5- GOVERNMENTAL FUNDS OVERVIEW This section of the report provides you with an overview of the financial trends and activities of the City’s governmental funds, which includes the General, special revenue, debt service, and capital project funds. These funds are used to account for the basic services the City provides to all of its citizens, which are financed primarily with property taxes. The governmental fund information in the City’s financial statements focuses on budgetary compliance and the sufficiency of each governmental fund’s current assets to finance its current liabilities. PROPERTY TAXES Minnesota cities rely heavily on local property tax levies to support their governmental fund activities. For the 2021 fiscal year, local ad valorem property tax levies provided 44.0 percent of the total governmental fund revenues for cities over 2,500 in population, and 35.5 percent for cities under 2,500 in population. Total property taxes levied by all Minnesota cities for taxes payable in 2022 increased 5.9 percent compared to the prior year, and 4.2 percent for taxes payable in 2023. The total tax capacity value of property in Minnesota cities increased about 5.6 percent for the 2022 levy year. The tax capacity values used for levying property taxes are based on the assessed market values for the previous fiscal year (e.g., tax capacity values for taxes levied in 2022 were based on assessed market values as of January 1, 2021), so the trend of change in these tax capacity values lags somewhat behind the housing market and economy in general. The City’s taxable market value increased 11.4 percent for taxes payable in 2021 and 2.2 percent for taxes payable in 2022. The following graph shows the City’s changes in taxable market value over the past seven years: $– $20,000,000 $40,000,000 $60,000,000 $80,000,000 $100,000,000 $120,000,000 $140,000,000 $160,000,000 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Total Market Value