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Tad |ude <br />COMMlSNK'NtR <br />PHOME <br />3-»fi 30A-t <br />Board of H ennepin County Commissioners <br />2*400 G0\'ERNMENT CENTER <br />Minneapolis . Minnesota =>31^7 <br />November 19, 1990 <br />Mark Bernhardson <br />City Administrator <br />City of Orono <br />P.O. Box 66 <br />Crystal Bay, MN 55487 <br />r.O'/ 2 6 1990 <br />Dear Mark: <br />Thank you for contacting me concerning the legal notice of the <br />maximum allowable 1991 budget for Hennepin County. I agree with <br />you that 14.3% is just plain unacceptable! The board voted <br />unanimously to cut the amount to 10.9%. <br />There ure many specific spending items I have voted against in <br />the past and will vote against in the future. Two large spending <br />items I'm against are the Light Rail Transit property tax levy, <br />as well as the outrageous $180 million price tag now hung on the <br />new proposed jail. <br />Unfortunately, I have found that many mandates from the state, <br />over which the county has very little discretion, drive our <br />Hennepin County property taxf ' up. Rapidly growing spending <br />items are the placement of kids outside of thei • homes in foster <br />care, mandated on us, and the massive increase in criminal <br />justice spending driven by increased crime rates. <br />Underlying the many state mandates is a basic unfair set of <br />property tax rules which work against property owners in Hennepin <br />County. Tax Increment Financing and Fiscal Disparities has been <br />eating away at our property tax base which means homeowners and <br />businesses have to pay higher taxes in Hennepin County. <br />I'm still not pleased with a 10.9% increase in mill levy, yet, <br />the alternative of going lower is to risk our bond rating and to <br />have appointed judges order county spending. In the end that <br />alternative would cost taxpayers a lot more. I support a <br />commission on efficiency to try to find new areas where we can <br />trim back county spending. Please let me know if I can be of <br />further assistance on this or other issues of concern. <br />Sincerely, <br />ei /IK S <br />fnaven • “ ‘ "Servinit the CQaiMvaitics of: Corcoran • Dayton • Dcefhlven • Excelsior • Greenfield • Greenwood <br />Hanover • Hassan • Independence • Lon^ Lake o Loretto • Maple Grove • Maple Plain • Medicine Lake <br />Medina • Minnetonka ^ach e Minnetrista • Mound • New Hope • Orono • Plymouth • Rockford • Rogers <br />SL Bonifaeius • Shorewood o Spring Park • Tonka Bay • Wayxata • Woodland