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VICTORIA RESIDENT COMES HOME

TO FIND 8-FOOT CONSTRUCTION IN HIS YARD

Don Solie, a resident of Victoria at Bayshore, spoke to councilmembers during the Open Forum on Monday, December 1st, and showed them a structure that was placed on his property without permission or approval or any notice whatsoever. The structure is over six feet in height and resembles an outhouse.

“We came home one day and this was in our sideyard,” said Mr. Solie. “It is a very severe problem for us. It is a huge detraction for our property. How did this end up on our sideyard lot line? We are 25-year residents and we are looking for some type of action. This is not acceptable. We’re trying to work with the staff and with others and we’re not seeing much progress.”

Stated City Administrator Don Uram, “Progress has been slow. We’re talking to Xcel. We’ve expressed to them our concerns. They would relocate this junction box at a cost to the city of $9,000. My conversation with Mr. Shrock is that this is an issue for all of us.”

Said Mr. Solie when asked if he had a preference to where the structure might be moved, “Our preference is that it would disappear. What does this box do? Who set the placement? I don’t want to point figures ...”

“Well, I do!” stated Councilmember Kim Roden. “If we are in charge of managing these constructions, if we are the ones who are called to sign off on these things, how does it happen? At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s right to find an eight-foot box in their yard. That’s wrong! End of story! We spend a lot of money to engineers for signing off on these projects. I want it moved and I want to find out who’s responsible. Maybe it’s the engineer. I want it fixed within the next thirty days.”

City Engineer Cara Geheren said about the structure, “It’s not on the plan. We have an ongoing problem with right-of-way management, with Xcel, with Mediacom ... We’ve been looking at the process.”

Stated the city administrator, “There will not be a quick fix to this. We can get Xcel here to explain why it’s there.”

Said Mayor Mary Thun, “This is a huge box. We need to do more than talk to Xcel.”

Advised Councilmember Roden, “You can speed it up by going to the top. When I have a problem like this, you skip middle management! If you want to bring me along, I’d love to go to that meeting. It’s not okay for people to come home and find something like this in their yard.”

Councilmember Jim Paulsen commented that Xcel does not have a franchise agreement with the City of Victoria. “We’ve got a whole list of issues,” he said.

AVERAGE $369,200 HOME IN VICTORIA

TO PAY $1,372 IN CITY PROPERTY TAX IN 2009

Council met at 6 p.m. on Monday, December 1st, for the annual Truth in Taxation Hearing. As City Administrator Don Uram explained, “The purpose is to discuss taxes payable in 2009, not to discuss property valuations, which would be with the county assessor. Property values are estimated on January 2nd every year. They can be contested in the spring for pay 2010.”

Speaking of property valuations, Councilmember Kim Roden commented she learned there are three major factors upon which valuations depend: size of acreage, value of the land, age and quality of construction.

Finance Director Jylan Johnson said the city levy for 2009 did not reach the state-allowed level and therefore a Truth in Taxation hearing is not required, “but we’re holding a hearing anyway.”

According to Jylan, “The Truth in Taxation hearing was required if the city levy increased by more than 6.19%. However, the Council wanted to have a hearing regardless. The state has imposed levy limits for the next three years, 2009 through 2011. Thus, we could have levied up to $4,473,179; however, that would have increased the tax rate to 38%. The Council did not want to raise the tax rate.”

How does the state determine the levy limit? “The state’s formula for calculating the levy limit is based on an inflation factor of 3.9%, plus 50% of the increase in a city’s number of households, plus 50% of the increase in the market value of new commercial/industrial properties.”

She reported that a breakdown of local property taxes proposed for 2009 shows 41% going to School District #112, 28% going to the City of Victoria, 28% going to Carver County, and 3% going to entities such as the watershed district and the mosquito control district.

The finance director reported that the city’s tax capacity is going up an average of 16% a year. She explained that tax capacity is roughly 1% of the city’s market valuation. The city’s market valuation is $1,099,852,100. The city’s tax capacity for 2009 is $11,222,971.

“Can we keep going at that kind of increase?” asked Councilmember Jim Paulsen.

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