Hopkins homeowners pay more taxes than they would for an identically priced home just across the city border. Patch examines why that’s the case.
When Hopkins homeowner Mark Jensen sat down to talk during the city’s budget hearing, his comments came down to a single question: Why does he pay so much more in property taxes than homeowners in neighboring communities? Finance Director Christine Harkess and City Council members talked about tax rates, state redistribution programs, property classes and other arcane matters. The subject is undoubtedly complicated. Yet Jensen’s question had a very simple basis in reality. Hopkins has the second-highest residential tax bills among seven west metro communities that Patch surveyed and the highest taxes among its immediate neighbors. The owner of a $250,000 home in Hopkins will pay $1,549 in 2013. That same home just across the border in …
Officials expect the city to save nearly $333,000 in 2013 compared to what it otherwise would have had to pay.
With the impending closure of the city’s dispatch center and other expense controls, Hopkins residents should see the 2013 city budget increase in the neighborhood of 1 percent. Finance Director Christine Harkess estimates the city will save $332,887 next year compared to what the city would have had to pay if it had maintained its own dispatch center. That savings means a budget that is 1.26 percent bigger than 2012 under the current plan—instead of the 4.42 percent it would have been without the dispatch change. The levy—or the portion of the budget paid by local property taxes—would increase by 1.62 percent. Calculations are not yet available for how that would affect the average tax bill. By comparison, the 2012 budget grew 1.66 …
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City of Hopkins - City Hall
1010 1st St S, Hopkins, MN
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