Why Will The Schools Raise Your Taxes Next Year?

This week, the school district gives you three chances to put that question to officials.

Next year, the Minneapolis Public Schools wants to increase their share of your property taxes by four percent.  According to an op-ed by MPS Superintendent Bernadiea Johnson published last month in the Southwest Journal, the district wants to raise an additional $6.7 million from taxpayers, or a $61 increase over last year's tax bill. The money will pay for extra classroom space the district is building or wants to build, fund "much-needed" repair and maintenance, and manage class size, Johnson wrote. For some, that information is enough. For those of a more curious persuasion, however, Johnson's op-ed is the barest of bones. They will get three chances to put their questions to MPS administrators this week about the details of the tax …

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OPINION: Mayor Rybak Defends Stadium Plan

Mayor's letter outlines reasons, including limiting property tax increases and keeping the city's tourism economy healthy.

Ed. Note: The following is an open letter from Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak, sent out via email. What do you make of his arguments? Tell us in the comments section. Dear Friend, As you probably know, City Council President Barbara Johnson and I have proposed a plan to lower property taxes in Minneapolis, fund the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Target Center, and contribute to a new Vikings stadium at the Metrodome. And we do all this by using existing Minneapolis sales and user taxes for Minneapolis -- without raising any new taxes. Why have we proposed this plan? Why is it worth the fight? We've proposed this plan because it's a good deal for Minneapolis taxpayers. And we've proposed it because without it, Minneapolis taxpayers could…

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City Council Pushing Referendum On Stadium

Mayor Rybak's financing plan met resistance from the council on Thursday.

The carrot of property tax relief and the stick of being stuck forever with Target Center debt didn't seem to sway members of the Minneapolis City Council on Thursday, when Mayor RT Rybak presented his modified financing plans for a Vikings stadium. "Let’s play offense and not play defense," Rybak implored councilmembers. "It's going to be pretty tough to pass a budget next year without some property tax relief." But several councilmembers, including Southwest's Elizabeth Glidden and Betsy Hodges, pointedly worried that the current plan could leave the city responsible for the Target Center and the stadium if the economy goes sour. Glidden, Hodges, and other opponents said they want a citywide referendum on the financing plan per the city …

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City Budget Passes: No Tax Hike

Crime prevention specialists also preserved, but water and sewer rates go up.

In a long-anticipated move that will come as a relief to many Southwest homeowners, the Minneapolis City Council passed a budget Wednesday night that did not include any increase in property tax rates. The move came despite cuts to the city's share of state aid that pushed Mayor RT Rybak to recommend the elimination of 104 city jobs, including the six firefighters laid off earlier this year as the City Council tried to deal with the impact of the shutdown-ending state budget deal.  Crucially, Southwest's two Crime Prevention Specialists were not counted among those 104. As Patch reported last week, Ward 13 City Councilmember Betsy Hodges proposed a measure redirecting unused contingency dollars in the police department's budget to preserve…

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Editor's Notebook

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. 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 repeal of the Market Value Homestead Tax Credit 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). But you …

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