02-09-2004 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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' . ■ i »coiiwrii mppting ORONO - THE MOST UNDERFUNDED CITY IN THE STA% ^ ^004 CITY OF ORONO THE PROBLEM Orono is the wealthiest city in Minnesota and probably the entire Ninth Federal Reserve District.* but spends the least money ($68.500/ycar) on parks (and apparently on other services such as snow plowing and street maintenance) as compared to all the other cities, towns and villages in the Lake Minnetonka area. It’s snow plowing is often inadequate and it is understaffed at city hall. Orono has a much greater capacity to raise money and to increase its services, THE FACTS 1 Orono has the highest median value per house ($385,750) of any city over 5,000 population in the seven county metropolitan area, which implies that it is the wealthiest city in the wealthiest area in tive states. 2- Orono has one of the lowest real estate ta.\ rates in the seven county area (1.057 %) Plymouth has a 1.29 % rate and Minnetonka has a 1.20 % rate. 3- Orono has the lowest parks budget in the Lake Minnetonka area ($68,000) as compared to Wayzata ($488,000). Mound ($322,000). It has the lowest park budget percentage (1.6%) of the entire city budget vs Mound at 9.1%. Excelsior at 6.7% and Wayzata at 7.5 %. 4- Orono provides inadequate street and other maintenance as compared to adjacent communities (drive on Orono Orchard Road tow days after a snowstorm. I he Orono portion will be snow covered and rutted, while the Long Lake section is clean as a bowling alley! 5- Orono Real estate ta.\es have dropped from 3.1% in 1984 down to 1.06 % in 2004. THE SOLUTION Petition the State of Minnesota to allow Orono to increase its real estate tax rate and lew ceilinti. It is clear that Orono is not taxing adequately and consequently is not providing adequate services. It is limited in its ability to increase its tax rate because it has been miserly lor many years and established a record of low spending. Like all bureaucrats, the state officials apply a fixed percentage increase to last year's expenditures, and ignore the true needs of Orono. We need to make a convincing case to the State that Orono requires more money to operate at least like a average city, and that the homeowners have more than enough wealth to handle a tax increase (people arc not attracted to Orono or do not buy or build million dollar houses in Orono because of its low taxes.) It appears that Orono could raise at least $2.1 00.000 more a year by merely increasing its tax rate from 1.06 % to 1.24 % which is the average of Minneapolis and local .Minnetonka cities. (See Tax Comparison chart) • The Ninth Federal Reserve Dis:rict is nvide up of Minnesota the Dakotas. Montana and Western Wisconsin. It is the same size as France. Gernuny. Belgium and Denmark put together (383.000 square miles), and has the same population as Denmark (7.9 million)