12-03-1990 Council Minutes Budget Hearing

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ORONO BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING MEETING HELD DECEMBER 3, 1990 12. Those costs a-e being specially assessed against the • developers. If this levy is adopted, the City can collect taxes for those bonds ahead of time and allow the City to pay them off and, in the long run, reduce taxes. The City could then use the special assessment income received to offset taxes in the future. This would put the City in a better financial position." Bernhardson explained what impact all of this information would have on the individual taxpayer. He said, "The City takes approximately 13% of your taxes and is proposing to increase that by 13.1 %. That translates to a total tax increase of approximately 1.7 %. For every $1,000 paid in property taxes in 1990, the proposed maximum increase will be $17.00 or $1.41 per month." Bernhardson concluded his presentation and Acting Mayor Callahan called for public comments. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mr. Leo Bullock, 2940 Casco Point Road, noted a discrepancy between the Notice and the levy information. He stated that the notice shows $1,853,541 and the levy information s ?lows $1,823,541. Bernhardson apologized for the typographical error and stated that the Notice is correct. • Mr. John Farnham, 3225 Carman Road, appreciated the opportunity to participate in the budget process. Mr. Farnham said, "I assume that all of our concerns will be listened to and considered before any vote is taken. I disagreed with the process that took place recently with Hennepin County. My main goal is to convince the Council that some changes need to occur in that 13.1% budget increase. I am hoping that the Council will see that the total tax situation, especially the property taxes, in Hennepin County have reached what I call crises proportions. I believe the term crises is appropriate for the following reasons: On the National front, we have finally reached a consensus that we are in a recession. The main disagreements are the degree and length. Minnesota is not likely to avoid the recession completely. Recession can have many negative aspects such as business slow downs and failures, rising unemployment, personal bankruptcies. Inflation will create personal hardships of many kinds, including the inability to pay taxes. On the State level, our government faces a 1.2 billion dollar shortfall. According to past experience, that will be made up by spending cuts and tax increases. Thirdly, the County government has just hit us with the third straight double -digit tax increase and the school districts are doing the same. The Metropolitan Council is now considering a new Metro /Area -wide half percent sales tax, plus possibly increasing the four other Metro -wide property taxes - 3 - 0