04-15-2009 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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NIINUTES OF THE ORONO BOARD OF APPEAL AND EQUALIZATION Wednesday, April 15, 2009 7:00 o'clock p.m. Johnston stated she also called her legislative representative and spoke with her legal assistant on April 7th. The written response she received states the following: Thank you for calling my office to.alert me to your concern about your property tax increases. You mentioned to my assistant that your taxes have been raised by 16.7 percent. This amount does seem to be excessive. You might want to take a look at your tax statement to see where the tax increases are coming from. Cities have levy limits that are capped at 3.9 percent. However, Long Lake's population, which is below the levy limit, might have raised your taxes over the 3.9 percent. Johnston noted she does not reside in Long Lake. Murphy asked what "her zip code was. Johnston stated she has a Wayzata zip code. The letter goes on to state that, I believe you are in the Orono School District, which she is not. Johnston indicated she is in the Westonka School District. The letter went on to say that the Orono School District held a referendum last year. You might want to check to see if there was another source of your property tax increases. White stated there was a limited market value issue which allowed for residents to have capped property tax increases: The legislature decided there was getting to be a big gap between the cap and the real market value, which resulted in_a higher than normal increase. Kunik stated the limited market value went away this year for taxes payable in 2010, which did hold down property taxes from the year before. Kunik asked what her valuation and limited market value was in 2008. Johnston stated her taxable market value in 2007 was $797,000. Johnston asked if the removal of the cap by the Legislature contributed to the 16.7 percent increase. Kunik stated it did. White requested the Assessor's Office review the information provided by Ms. Johnston. Kunik stated her value did not increase from 2008. Kunik stated the Assessor's Office cannot discuss prior year's taxes tonight since they have already been assessed and paid. 4. Daniel O'Donoghue, 1770 Shadywood Road, PID 17- 117 -23 21 -0023 O'Donoghue stated one of the issues he encountered was the lack of comparables. O'Donoghue noted in the case where comparables are not available or limited, it was his understanding the assessors look for trends, and that in his opinion the trend has been downward. O'Donoghue indicated he did speak at the Board of Equalization last year, which was the beginning of the decline, and was told by the Assessor's Office that the market was flattening out. O'Donoghue noted the market has, in fact, go down, but yet his assessed value increased 12 percent. O'Donoghue stated he is not aware of any trend where any property values have increased in this area by 12 percent. O'Donoghue noted that Assessor Stulc gave him an assessed value of $30,000 less, but that in his view he should receive a further reduction based on the trends. O'Donoghue stated the assessor also stated last year that the valuation is a lagging number. In other words, his 2010 taxes will go down. O'Donoghue stated as it relates to limited market value, if you resided in your house for 20 or 30 years, you did receive a benefit from the cap because you have PAGE 4