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Where I stand on key issues |
Healthiest Market in MN - Stats
As many of you know I like supported statistics. Being the "Healthiest Market in MN" is great as long as we know the basis for the assertion. So the data that SmartAsset used is from 2016 and came from the US Census Bureau and Zillow. The validity of the info seems very good and it validates the efforts that we have been working on to make housing affordable and available. Making the Community a desirable place to live factors positively into all the measures they collected. While growth is great we also look to make sure we do not grow beyond our capability to provide effective services. All of this adds up to greater VALUE that the current Council and Staff have been working on for you. You can see more detail on this data for MN at my website www.VOTEforDAVE.info and the data for the US at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota
Methodology
A healthy housing market is both stable and affordable; homeowners in a healthy market should be able to easily sell their homes, with a low risk of losing money over the long run. So, in order to find the healthiest housing markets in the country, we considered the following four factors: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss.
We measured stability with two equally weighted indicators: the number of years people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity (as homeowners with negative equity are more likely to go into foreclosure). To account for our second factor, risk, we used the percentage of homes that decreased in value. To determine housing market fluidity, we looked at data on the average time a for-sale home in each area spends on the market—the longer it takes to sell, the less fluid the market. Finally, we calculated affordability as the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each county and city.
Affordability accounted for 40% of the housing health index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20%. When data on the above four factors was unavailable for cities, we excluded these from our final rankings of healthiest markets.
Sources: US Census Bureau 2016 5-Year American Community Survey, Zillow
From <https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota>
More detailed data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uJ1cWs11sT-pS0Y7CAJEqXUk2XdAbF-I/view?usp=sharing
As many of you know I like supported statistics. Being the "Healthiest Market in MN" is great as long as we know the basis for the assertion. So the data that SmartAsset used is from 2016 and came from the US Census Bureau and Zillow. The validity of the info seems very good and it validates the efforts that we have been working on to make housing affordable and available. Making the Community a desirable place to live factors positively into all the measures they collected. While growth is great we also look to make sure we do not grow beyond our capability to provide effective services. All of this adds up to greater VALUE that the current Council and Staff have been working on for you. You can see more detail on this data for MN at my website www.VOTEforDAVE.info and the data for the US at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota
Methodology
A healthy housing market is both stable and affordable; homeowners in a healthy market should be able to easily sell their homes, with a low risk of losing money over the long run. So, in order to find the healthiest housing markets in the country, we considered the following four factors: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss.
We measured stability with two equally weighted indicators: the number of years people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity (as homeowners with negative equity are more likely to go into foreclosure). To account for our second factor, risk, we used the percentage of homes that decreased in value. To determine housing market fluidity, we looked at data on the average time a for-sale home in each area spends on the market—the longer it takes to sell, the less fluid the market. Finally, we calculated affordability as the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each county and city.
Affordability accounted for 40% of the housing health index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20%. When data on the above four factors was unavailable for cities, we excluded these from our final rankings of healthiest markets.
Sources: US Census Bureau 2016 5-Year American Community Survey, Zillow
From <https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota>
More detailed data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uJ1cWs11sT-pS0Y7CAJEqXUk2XdAbF-I/view?usp=sharing
Calculating Property Taxes
There are a variety of factors that go into determining your property tax. Tax Capacity Tax + Market Value Tax = Total Tax
https://www.co.washington.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/20544/How-to-calculate-Property-Tax-2018-F?bidId=
For the City portion of your taxes the changes in the levy go into the tax capacity of the city and your market value, determined by county assessment goes into the market Value Tax.
In our first budget meeting every year we get a chart that shows the estimated effect of the proposed city budget on the cities portion of the property tax. We look at four different actual properties around Cottage Grove and based on what we know or estimate we calculate the effect of the proposed budget on those representative properties. We keep the properties constant year over year to maintain consistency and validity in our review.
We also look at the change in Market Value for those homes as this is very important also.
Last year 3 out of the four properties decreased and this year we are seeing all four of those properties will go down based on our estimations.
There are a variety of factors that go into determining your property tax. Tax Capacity Tax + Market Value Tax = Total Tax
https://www.co.washington.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/20544/How-to-calculate-Property-Tax-2018-F?bidId=
For the City portion of your taxes the changes in the levy go into the tax capacity of the city and your market value, determined by county assessment goes into the market Value Tax.
In our first budget meeting every year we get a chart that shows the estimated effect of the proposed city budget on the cities portion of the property tax. We look at four different actual properties around Cottage Grove and based on what we know or estimate we calculate the effect of the proposed budget on those representative properties. We keep the properties constant year over year to maintain consistency and validity in our review.
We also look at the change in Market Value for those homes as this is very important also.
Last year 3 out of the four properties decreased and this year we are seeing all four of those properties will go down based on our estimations.
League of Women Voters City Council Candidate Forum - Old but still valid!
The 2014 League of Women Voters forum was Sept. 30th, 2014 at Cottage Grove City Hall. The event went well! Click play below to listen and watch my responses to the questions.
Even though this was four years ago most of it is still my focus today. I would estimate that we accomplished close to 95% of what was discussed. Here is an index for the event relative to my responses and a my current review to those responses.
0:00 Opening comments
1:25 Greatest challenges need to address over the next 10 years for CG
- Greater Value- We have kept the budget, and more importantly your property taxes in check. In 2016 our per capita property taxes were 14% lower than similar sized cities in MN (20K-100K) and in 2017 we lowered actual taxes per capita by 1% while increasing revenue in other ways by 15.2%. At the same time we lowered our per capita expenses by 12%. Adding new homes and businesses increases the amount of money we have to spend on amenities while minimizing increases in your individual taxes - creating greater VALUE. Did this - Moving the tax rate from 43.8% to 35.3%
- Business Park - Creating "shovel ready" sites that develop quick and easy, AUAR ( https://cottagegrovemn.gov/auar-business-park ), Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) ( https://www.cottagegrovemn.gov/eda/1265-business-retention-expansion-br-e ), We have done this retaining existing that chose to expand here and adding new companies
- Controlled Growth and Planning - We are matching the growth to our ability to scale City services so that we keep taxes as level as possible. As noted above we have reduced per capita taxes while reducing spending and increased revenue thru other means. We are doing well with this - we have had tremendous growth but still need to be attentive to trends in the market and make sure we continue to prepare and react to it.
- We are preparing the the 2040 Comprehensive Plan for the Met Council and, of course, us. I am invested in the project and would really like to continue planning on implementing it. We accomplished this and have built a great staff to execute the plans.
2:35 What qualifications do I bring to the Council
I have excellent professional and personal skills that have been and will continue to be beneficial to the citizens of Cottage Grove, the City and the Council, including engineering, finance, budget mgmt and organizational & group facilitation skills.
3:45 Would I support a partnership with the YMCA at the Home Depot
We have not engaged with the YMCA yet but Home Depot is resolved and there will be a fitness center in the Gateway North. We have created a new Community Center Task Force and are working with the new library group and are open to working with the YMCA on it. Planet Fitness went in.
4:55 Do I support the HERO Center - Groundbreaking this fall. A very successful addition bringing new capabilities to the area and supporting not only our Public Safety folks but the entire region.
6:10 What criteria is needed to balance taxes and infrastructure investment
Controlled Growth and Planning - We are matching the growth to our ability to scale City services so that we keep taxes as level as possible. As noted above we have reduced per capita taxes while reducing spending and increased revenue thru other means.
7:10 What Planning is needed for Road Maintenance
We do an excellent job with planned maint for roads and such. We have improved some of our methods for determining how much work is needed on a certain area when it comes due for maint. While some may think otherwise we do not blindly tear up roads that don't need to be refurbished.
8:13 Economic Development
The upper east ravine area is developing nicely - close to our east ravine plan. We have Gateway North area refilling. With the AUAR we are prepared and reaching out to new businesses. We have done some excellent Marketing - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zB2pQ5d_MM4TaZk4Qq4S1-vhEDoPkl63 The park has about 1,700 acres. NorthPoint is approximately 1800 Full Time jobs at the current building out of phase 1 which is 252 acres. Renewal added 300 with recent expansion and is over 1,100. North Point, phase 1 is about 34M sq ft and Endeavor, Enclave, Capp Industry, and Rayn Co. will add about another 1M sq ft and the value over all in the park is over $2.5B.
9:28 Supporting Public Safety
Besides the new Public Safety/City Hall building we have also built the new Fire Station at opportune times that saved a lot of money and prepared us for growth in the future and we managed finances properly to maintain our A++ rating so that we've done great selling bonds with low interest.
10:30 Homelessness in CG
With organizations like Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and County Services and citizens working together we have relatively little homelessness. We still have people in need though.
11:45 Water Usage
Well we never expected the MPCA to cut the safe limits of PFC's in half at the beginning of the summer of 2017 but we reacted and made it conform to the new standards quickly - not without some frustration from folks though. We are continuing to follow through and work with neighboring communities to create a permanent solution for water treatment. We did get awards - https://www.cottagegrovemn.gov/administration/communication/news-releases-list/1539-cottage-grove-receives-awards-from-acec-mn-and-ceam-for-interim-water-treatment-facilities
13:00 Taxes - alternatives for raising money
see below
14:21 Working with people with different views
15:20 Closing
You can also send a donation to Citizens for Dave Thiede, 7393 Hidden Valley Trl S, Cottage Grove MN 55016.
THIS SITE PAID FOR BY CITIZENS FOR DAVE THIEDE
