Property taxes around Minnesota

2011 Property Taxes: $2,762

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,990

Percent change: 8%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: City of Harris taxes increased from $814.68 to $942.71. We live in the rural part of the city, do not receive city water and sewer, police protection is about 20 hours/month of contracted sheriff service, periodic gravel road grading and a volunteer fire department. Our city and the urban part of the city pay very high water and sewer fees.

2011 Property Taxes: $2,346

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,518

Percent change: 7%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: As a whole, i am happy with Blue Earth County but I am very dissatisfied with the City of Lake Crystal. The city administrator and maintenance crew are ridiculous to deal with. I look forward to the day when I feel I can sell this house.

2011 Property Taxes: $3,342

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $3,754

Percent change: 12%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: I have to pay separate for garbage pick up, my street gets plowed several days after snow storms leaving us to try to get out, schools are struggling and teachers laid off when they should be laying off state workers that are on all these useless committees. Retired state workers are getting paid a lot of money for not working and that is a big reason my property taxes are so high. I am a senior citizen with breast cancer and can't afford to live in my home much longer due to property tax increases.

2011 Property Taxes: $3,014

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $3,127

Percent change: 4%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: In difficult times we could get by without doing some of the things local government is spending money on. Needless early replacement of curbs that are crumbling a little around the edges and sweeping streets in the summer are just two examples of expenses that could be postponed or cut.

2011 Property Taxes: $1,936

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,042

Percent change: 5%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: I believe I pay more into county coffers because local taxpayers "subsidize" Red Lake Indian Reservation to some extent, because the federal dovernment doesn't fully fund its obligation for treaty issues. I should be paying more for the local township road repair and maintenance, but town supervisors are pressured to keep townshop levies low becaise of higher amounts needed by the county and school districts.

2011 Property Taxes: $1,462

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $1,344

Percent change: -8%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: I think Hennepin County in general does a very good job of ensuring that the money taken in from property taxes is used in the way that the voters have decided and that legislators have mandated.

2011 Property Taxes: $570

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $756

Percent change: 3%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: The schools run, the roads get plowed and maintained, there is police and fire service, the environment is protected, etc. Private businesses don't do these things.

2011 Property Taxes: $5,030

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $5,382

Percent change: 7%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: I'm completely satisfied by the services I receive from the city and county; Imagine where we would be without plowed streets, quality drinking water, decaying schools and recyclable materials going into landfills.

2011 Property Taxes: $1,890

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $1,936

Percent change: 2%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: It's the day after the first snowfall. Who in St. Paul is ever satisfied with neighborhood snow removal? My taxes went up for more general categories: St. Paul overall by 10.01%, Met Council special taxing districts by 5.41%, voter approved levies by 3.29%, Ramsey County by 0.46%, other levies by 0.46% as well. I support school levies. Voter-approved levies are just 8% of the overall total after the recent tiny increase. After all the hollering they elicit during election cycles, who'd have thought they were so relatively small? My taxes went down for specific, tangible items: Rail service, Public Safety Radio System, City Library. Mark me down for a donation to the Friends of the St. Paul Library.

2011 Property Taxes: $3,116

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $3,454

Percent change: 11%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: Republicans starve government and we make do with what we have. This trend will drive me out of my home.

2011 Property Taxes: $2,182

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,185

Percent change: 1%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: I'm on a corner property w/neighborhood arterial rebuilt with a newly expanded regional storm sewer. Despite a summer filled w/vibration & dust, the new street, paths & trees are very nice. My only concern is the disproprtionately higher amount. I pay year after year just for being on the corner. Remember, there's more traffic, more plowed snow to deal with, and more grass to maintain.

2011 Property Taxes: $1,229

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $1,326

Percent change: 8%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: The Duluth Public Schools, ISD 709, are spending something like $500 million dollars to build and remodel schools, but it went beyond just improving the safety of the buildings. Do we need a two-story atrium with a giant chandelier in a high school? Do both high schools need brand new football fields? $500 million dollars could have been spent on improving curriculum and hiring the best teachers. Because of the poor quality education along with more and more discipline problems and violence in our schools, I have chosen to send my child to a private school. The tuition is over $12,000 a year. I have moved in with my mother and rent out my house in order to cover the tuition costs, but it is worth it to me to make sure my child has the best education possible. I'm embarrassed and disappointed that in Minnesota, where we once had one of the best education opportunities in the country, we now have a mediocre, if not pathetic, system. Duluth also has horrible roads and poor public library services for the population size. We have increasing crime without enough police officers in my neighborhood. But still, my taxes have gone up.

2011 Property Taxes: $949

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $759

Percent change: -20%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: I don't feel that I pay very much tax for all the services I receive. Overall, it seems like a pretty good deal. I was execting an increase. But then I had forgotten about all of the foreclosures, and the tornado damage done last spring on the northside of Minneapolis where I live.

2011 Property Taxes: $2,597

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,627

Percent change: 1%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: All in all, I am perplexed by our tax situation. Dakota County in an insert with my Notice tells me a narrative that they cut $20 million and 120 jobs and did not increase their budget from the prior year. Yet, my "taxable value" has gone done nearly $20,000 and my Dakota County taxes have gone up. Apple Valley City taxes have also increased. However, I also feel like this is justified. I enjoy beautiful parks and trails, a very responsive police and fire department, and a strong public works department. The school taxes have increased minimally. What most concerns me with schools is that they are continually cutting costs and teachers and my wife has yet to find a position. Her undergraduate and graduate work has yet to help her find a job. But, if she had not gone to college for an education degree and instead done a program like "Teach for America" she would have a position. We are all feeling squeezed. I wish we would have got a more detailed picture of how are taxes are going up if counties, cities, and schools are holding the line on spending!

2011 Property Taxes: $3,700

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $3,870

Percent change: 5%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: St. Anthony schools are very good and our infrastructure is great.

2011 Property Taxes: $2,844

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $3,076

Percent change: 8%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very dissatisfied

Comments: Too much of it goes, not for services, but for transfer payments to "Social Services" and "Welfare." I receive NO BENEFIT from that. Period. I'm paying for much more than the proper, more limited role of government. The "social rent" is too high to be affordable and/or sustainable.

2011 Property Taxes: $4,724

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $6,000

Percent change: 26%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: I realize we all need to pay taxes for the services we receive but the shift that has occurred is dramatic. My valuation of house and 20 acres dropped by nearly 6% even though I put on new siding, put on a new roof, refinished my deck, and put ceramic tile in my halls and living room over the past two years. Though my local taxes went up by 26%, I'm not sure that I'm receiving 26% more services locally, but I sympathize with the dilemma that local government officials are facing.

2011 Property Taxes: $2,184

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,234

Percent change: 2%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: I don't know

Comments: I don't understand how they say that property taxes go to driver's licenses, when I pay for my driver's license and car license already. Why do they list the restaurant I visit as a service? The water I drink comes from a well that I pay for the pump and electricity for. The property taxes should not be raised for people on fixed incomes. It's a bad idea to potentially force people from paid homes because they are retired and have no potential to earn more as the taxes go up. There needs to be a discussion on this topic.

2011 Property Taxes: $1,633

Estimated 2012 PropertyTax: $2,064

Percent change: 26%

Satisfaction level with city, school and county services: Somewhat or very satisfied

Comments: The city still spends money on non essentials even "luxury" items even during these bad economic times just like they did before. I had a very recent appraisal done on the house and the estimated market value dropped significantly while the counties appraisal went up!