One Yes, One No on Tuesday!

Richfield On Tuesday the voters in Richfield will be asked if they wish to renew an existing ISD #280 levy and support a new levy for additional school funding. I'm sure by now most already know if they will vote and what their vote will be. Here is the link to information on the official school district website. The ballot will have two questions, #1 is to renew an existing levy that expires due to a new state law that forces levies to expire (this is an excellent law). This would maintain the additional levy support to supply $546.28 per pupil with an estimated $2.6 million per year. Question #2 is a levy asking an additional $252 per pupil or $1.3 million. I am voting YES on question #1 and NO on question #2 because removing that $546 would most likely decimate our schools, however do they really need another $252 per student? I urge all readers to go read all the data on the ISD #280 website. When you are reading this remember who put the site together. I'm not accusing them of lying or even misleading, if anything they might only be guilty of the of omission. This PowerPoint presentation offers me a chance to prove my point. On slide #5 they compare the level of state funding versus the consumer price index since 1990.

• 2.06% - Average annual increase in per pupil funding since 1990
• 2.55% - Average annual increase in Consumer Price Index since 1990
• Many cost increases exceed the rate of inflation

What did they omit? Well, our state lawmakers also passed a law in the recent past that removed a cap on the amount our property tax could be increased. In the past, it was not uncommon for the taxable property value to be $10-15,000 behind the real market value on a house. As recently as 2004 mine was $19,000 off, but in 2005 they are the same thanks to the new law. If you add the boom of the real estate market for the last decade, what do you get? That's right, increased revenue. My taxable market value for my home has averaged a 10.38% increase per year for the last six years (see Chart 1 below). Now let's compare the 2.06 and 2.55% number with 10.38%. Let's say the existing levy (Q1, which I support) is 0.2% of your taxable property value. On a $100k house in 2000 you would pay $200, but in 2005 that same house on the same levy would net $327, or 10.38%.

Chart 1

So where is all this money going? The PowerPoint has a long list of costs that are outpacing inflation, but I will let you go read it. If it wasn't for the dramatic increase in real estate values, I might be more willing to add that additional $252 per student, but the fact that my taxes going to ISD #280 is double the amount I paid in 2000 leads me wanting more proof that my money is not being wasted. One more tip, try doing what I did. I took all my Hennepin County Property Tax statements I could find (2000 to present) and put it into a spread sheet. It provides some interesting data. I hope I can track down the previous four.