The cities of St. Michael, Albertville, Wright County and the STMA school district have recently released preliminary levy numbers for the 2020 tax year. Here’s a look what local residents can expect on their tax bills for next year, while bearing in mind individual fluctuations based on your property’s valuation.
Albertville
Albertville’s preliminary budget for 2020 stands at $4,554,478, which is a 4.76 percent increase over last year.
The biggest reasons for this, city administrator Adam Nafstad said, is due to new debt service. The city also designated over $26,000 more to the park and recreation fund than last year, which he attributed to realigning expenses and personnel across departments plus inflationary costs.
NOTE: A previous version of this article cited rising fire protection contract charges as a reason for the increase. This was erroneous, and NWCT apologizes for the error.
Second Voting Precinct Planned for 2020
The Albertville city council also recently voted to create a second voting precinct in time for next year’s elections. The original precinct, now called Precinct 1, will continue to vote at Middle School West. Precinct 2 will vote at St. Albert’s Church’s Parish Center. These boundary lines will put all school district 728 voters in one precinct, with Precinct 1 including all areas west of CSAH 19 and Precinct 2 covering areas east of 19, including all areas to the north of Interstate 94. Albertville has 4,242 registered voters, which may be slightly higher by next year’s elections due to residential construction in the city’s Towne Lakes and Hunter’s Pass neighborhoods.
St. Michael
St. Michael councilmembers approved a preliminary levy of $7,359, 380, an increase of 7.98 percent over last year. City Administrator Steve Bot gave the following reasons for the increase: an additional $188,000 for rising public works and parks department repair and replacement needs, additional $120,000 for Town Center Park, $57,000 more for increasing ice/snow removal needs, $46,000 in police budget increases and $28,000 for three elections in 2020.
The city’s final budget and levy will be approved Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
STMA School District
The St. Michael-Albertville school district voted last month to set their preliminary levy at $15,057,728, a 3.4 percent increase over last year. Kris Crocker, director of business services for the school district, said the increase amounts to approximately $14 additional over last year for a $250,000 home, using last year’s tax rates and not taking into account possible changes to a property’s tax value.
The district’s truth in taxation meeting takes place Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.
Wright County
Wright County taxpayers felt the pain of a 17.3 percent levy increase in 2019, but this year’s preliminary levy shows a more modest increase of 6.5 percent.
“We made the correction last year, and can move forward with more reasonable numbers,” Commissioner Christine Husom said.
County leaders said the 2020 tax increase should be covered by growth of the county’s tax base. Therefore, Commissioner Mark Daleiden said that residents’ taxes should not increase at the county level unless their property tax value increased.
The total proposed levy for 2020 is $78,587,582, about $4.9 million over last year. The 2020 budget and levy will receive final approval at a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.