2006 12-21 CC PACKET - Laserfiche WebLink

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WHY ARE TAXES GOING UP? �l 1. HOME VALUATIONS CHANGE. While the Gem Lake Tax Levy (Property Tax) does not increase due to a change in the valuation of your home, your individual portion of the overall Gem Lake Tax Levy is adjusted to reflect your increased our decreased share based on property values which are established by Ramsey County. EXAMPLE: Assume no change in Gem Lake's Property Tax Levy. If your home and my home are both worth $100 in 2006 and my value is adjusted upward while your value stays the same, my portion of the property tax will increase while your's will not. Thus, my taxes can increase even though the Gem Lake Property Tax Levy did not change. 2. CONTRACTED SERVICES (+ $10,000) Typically, all Gem Lake's services are provided by outside contractors or adjacent municipalities. 2007 increases for these services total almost $10,000 which includes police (Ramsey County Sheriff @ 5%), fire/paramedic (White Bear Lake @ 4%), Road Maintenance (Private Contractor @ 50%), Insurance (private and public carriers @ 50%), etc. Increases in road maintenance are actually about 5% but we have added more miles of streets to maintain. 3. COMPREHENSIVE MUNICIPAL PLAN (+ $30,000) As required by state law (Metropolitan Council), we are obligated to update our Comprehensive Municipal Plan (CMP) by September 12, 2008. As a city, we started working on this plan last summer. Elements of the CMP include a plan for City Water, a plan for City Sewer, a Housing Development Plan, a Business Development Plan, a Mass Transit Plan and several other aspects. Updating this plan is required by the State through the Metropolitan Council but receives no funding (this is known as an a Unfunded Mandate@). As we will need to utilize the resources of outside consultants (urban planners and engineers), we have budgeted $30,000 in 2007 to complete the work required. Nearly 100% of this amount will go to outside consultants. 4. LEGAL FEES FOR ANNEXATION MATTERS (+ $30,000) The City of Gem Lake is currently engaged in 4 different legal actions in which land owners are seeking concurrent detachment and annexation to Vadnais Heights. These actions are currently in the Mediation Phase which means we are actively discussing the issues that concern these land owners and seeking solutions. Based upon the concerns of the land owners, we can avoid court and litigation expenses if we are able to satisfy their concerns and have the proceedings dismissed. Last year, we were engaged in an annexation trial which the City won. However, the cost to the City to defend itself was over $250,000. Moving forward, we cannot afford to go down this road again. The $30,000 we have budgeted this year for 2007 is to help us avoid going to court on any of the 4 matters currently considered. J