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Archive | September, 2010

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge: the worst (and best) of the Chaska Herald Q&As

September 23, 2010 by seanolsen 0 Comments

The Chaska Herald published their pre-election Q&As with the Mayor and City Council candidates this week.  As is typical in these sorts of questionnaires, there’s a lot of mushy language and unwillingness to commit to specifics.  Let’s dig in, though, and see who did the worst (and best):

Worst spin:  Mark Windschitl

I am not a fan of raising taxes, especially in these economic times.  That is why the council and I voted to keep the tax levy the same for next year.

When you raise tax rates, you are raising taxes.  Period.  Don’t try to weasel out of what you voted for — if there are legitimate reasons for your vote, then stand behind it.

Best new idea:  Charles Stech

What if I told you there was a business that has hundreds of customers every day in downtown and has outgrown its current location.  Should we try and keep it?  Yes.  This business is the Carver County Library. Give the land (keep the Met Council grant) for a joint powers agreement to build a library/learning area. 

Putting a new library on the former Ohnsorg site might be the proper way to thread the needle with the issue the city is having with finding a suitable development for the former Ohnsorg corner.  A new library would definitely serve a public purpose and would be compatible with the surrounding park area.

Read more…

2010 Election, Chaska, City Council, Downtown Issues, Mayor, Taxes
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Do you know Leanne Pouliot Kunze?

September 23, 2010 by seanolsen 1 Comment

Frank Long is the chair of the Carver County Republican Party.  I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I can tell you two things I already know about him.  First, he’s a highly partisan guy.  Second, he doesn’t know Leanne Pouliot Kunze.

Read more…

2010 Election, State Legislature
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Going negative

September 16, 2010 by seanolsen 1 Comment

Do the Carver County Republicans have anything positive to say about any of their candidates?  Or are they solely in the business of throwing mud?  It’s been awfully strange to read the letters to the editor week after week and see nothing but attacks.

But then again, what else do they have to point to?  Julianne Ortman’s legislative track record is rather slender, and Ernie Leidiger supports one extreme position after another, including being a “Tenther”.  Going negative is all they’ve got.

2010 Election, Chaska, State Legislature
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Math matters

September 16, 2010 by seanolsen 2 Comments

During Monday’s City Council meeting, City Administrator Matt Podhradsky was asked by Ward 2 Councilor Greg Boe what the median property tax would be if the tax rate were not increased.

Let’s review the scenario in question.  In 2010, the median home value in Chaska was $216,216.  For 2011, they are anticipating a decrease in market value of 7.4%.  As such, the new median home value will be $200,216.  The current tax rate is 0.2189, and the new proposed tax rate is 0.2335.

Firing up the handy-dandy Brick City Blog calculator, we see that the property tax on the median home in 2010 is $473.  For 2011 — using the reduced market value and the increased rate — the proposed property tax on the median home is $467, a reduction of $6.

When asked by Boe what the property tax would be if the rate were not increased, Podhradsky answered it would be about $10 less, or $457.  But, that’s not correct.  In fact, if you multiply $200,216 by 0.2189, you get $438.

I’m not attempting to imply that Podhradsky was trying to shade the truth here.  He was speaking off the top of his head.

But people following the discussion (and those who read the Chaska Herald article that also re-prints the bad number) should be clear on what the true impact of this proposal is.  It’s not the difference between a $6 reduction in tax and a $16 reduction — it’s the difference between $6 and $35 for a $200,000 home.  And the more your home is worth, the bigger that gap gets.

The tax rate increase will result in $300,000 more in revenue for the city than if they had left the rate where it was.  In these tough economic times, raising a regressive tax like the property tax should be the last resort.  It should be incumbent on the Council and staff to produce a budget scenario that includes no tax rate increase so that Chaska residents can weigh the trade-offs that would have to be made.

[UPDATE 9/20]:  After reviewing my analysis and bringing it to the attention of the City Administrator, the Chaska Herald will be running a correction in this week’s paper.

Chaska, City Administrator, City Council, Taxes
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Show your work, part 2

September 9, 2010 by seanolsen 0 Comments

Remember all the talk we’ve heard in recent years about how the city of Chaska was going to do a better job of communicating with residents?

The city of Chanhassen will be approving their preliminary tax levy on Monday, September 13 — the same day Chaska will be doing the same thing. Chanhassen has a 129-page document online showing their proposed budget including line-by-line detail. They evaluated three scenarios (a small increase, a no change scenario, and a small decrease). It’s been available on their website since August 18. The agenda and all the supporting documentation for their council meeting was posted by yesterday (some pieces were available last week).

Here’s the link to their budget document.

Here in Chaska, none of the above information has been posted. Trumpeting the fact that you signed up for Facebook is worse than irrelevant if you aren’t going to make the effort to truly communicate with people about the things that really matter.

Chaska, City Administrator, City Council, Mayor, Taxes
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The 2011 city budget: Show us your work

September 3, 2010 by seanolsen 0 Comments

Earlier in the week, the Chaska City Council held a worksession to discuss the 2011 city budget.  Facing a significant deficit, City Administrator Matt Podhradsky laid out his plan:

  • Raise the property tax rate by 6.6% from 0.2189 to 0.2335.  The increase in the tax rate is designed to offset the 6.6% reduction in property values, leaving the city with the same tax levy as 2010 ($4.88 million)
  • Do not hire a budget analyst and heavy equipment operator as originally planned
  • Delay purchases of a new siren for northern Chaska and additional snow removal equipment
  • Reduce the sealcoat and overlay portion of the street reconstruction program

 The spending reductions total $639,000, offsetting expected increases in other areas of the budget, such as personnel (up 1.5%) and operating costs (up 2%).

The Council will set the preliminary levy at their meeting on September 13.  The preliminary levy serves as the maximum limit for local taxation in 2011.  Approval of the final levy takes place in December.  At that time, the Council can choose to reduce the levy if it so desires.

What the City needs to do between now and September 13 is to “show their work” on the budget.  Let’s see the figures that lead them to believe that a tax increase is the best way to deal with the budget.  If the tax rate weren’t increased, what else would have to be cut to bring the budget in balance?  City officials should show us what the tradeoffs would be, and let the people have their say.

2010 Election, Chaska, City Administrator, City Council, Mayor, Taxes
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Everything doesn’t need to be red or blue

September 1, 2010 by seanolsen 0 Comments

The Carver County Republican Party is planning on taking a novel step this evening — issuing endorsements for nonpartisan county commissioner races, and possibly for local races as well.

This is not a positive step.  County and local races don’t need to be infected by the partisan venom that has paralyzed progress in St. Paul and Washington over recent years.  And, in fact, most of the issues dealt with by city and county officials are well-defined and only have tangential relationships to the larger philosophical issues grappled with at higher levels of government. 

Voters should be wary of candidates in these races who flaunt their party affiliation.  Whose interests are they really looking out for?

2010 Election
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