Politics & Government

The Week Ahead: Two Hearings And A Forum

Heave your voices heard on property taxes and plans to deal with school overcrowding.

From property tax hearings to a long-awaited vote related to overcrowded schools, this is shaping up as a busy week for big news. Here's what you'll see covered this week on Southwest Minneapolis Patch:

Tell Councilmembers What's What

What: Public hearing on the city's property tax levels and 2012 budget.

Find out what's happening in Southwest Minneapoliswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Why I'm Watching: Regardless whether the city increases property taxes, your property taxes may well go up next year, thanks to more financial finger-wiggling by the state legislature this summer.

The changed the way the state gives tax relief to some property owners, shifting the burden onto properties worth more than $182,000 (MinnPost has a handy table summarizing the changes).

Find out what's happening in Southwest Minneapoliswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But you might have also noticed a little line in your preliminary property tax statements, too, saying the Minneapolis Public Schools were planning on pumping you for an additional 9.5 percent in property taxes. The district voted earlier this year to increase the preliminary rate by that much, but board members said they were simply buying room and time for staff to analyze big changes in education funding that came out of this summer's state budget deal.

A public hearing on the city's portion of your tax bill is 6 p.m. Wed., Nov. 30, at City Hall.

Getting Closer To A Crowding Solution

What: Minneapolis school board votes on a plan to address projected crowding problems in district middle schools.

Why I'm Watching: Here's a riddle: What do you get when some city residents can no longer afford private schools and everyone starts having more kids? .

Tuesday night, the Minneapolis School Board is likely to vote on that could solve the middle school portion of that problem in Southwest by moving  to a currently vacant building near South High School.

A public hearing is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, at district headquarters, 807 Broadway Ave. NE.

Ready, Set, Debate!

What: A debate among candidates for Kingfield's District 61B seat in the state House of Representatives.

Why I'm Watching: Following a few weeks ago, when clinched the nomination, all other DFL candidates declared they were suspending their campaigns. 

So does this mean Allen has been crowned Kingfield's next representative? Not so fast: , a former DFL political volunteer who's running as an independent progressive candidate for the same seat, may give Allen a run for her money in the special election, Jan. 10, 2002. Now, Blumenshine and Allen will meet each other in a candidate forum organized by Kingfield's City Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden (Ward 8).

The forum is at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at Turtle Bread Company, 47th Street and Chicago Avenue. Mystery candidate Paul Denis may even make an appearance. He's been invited, but he seems to be keeping a very low profile—Denis didn't seek the party endorsement at the convention and hasn't even sett up a campaign website.


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