A common question we received in city government is this one: “Why are my taxes in X city higher than they were in Y city?” This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many factors that go into why one city’s taxes might be higher than another’s.
Along these lines, I prepared (with the helpful assistance of City Assessor Steve Sinell) some information for the City Council that compares and contrasts the property taxes for a hypothetical home in Hennepin County that is valued at $414,000. Why $414,000? Because that is the value where the State of Minnesota’s Market Value Homestead Credit tax relief program fizzles down to zero. This makes the $414,000 valued home the easiest value to use to do as close to a apples-to-apples property tax comparison among cities.
Before you check out the data below you should understand that in any community, there will be multiple property tax rates in play. For example, while more than 90% of Eden Prairie is in the Eden Prairie School District, the Minnetonka School District and the Hopkins School District both tax a small number of Eden Prairie property taxpayers. Then there are three different Watershed Districts in Eden Prairie each with its own tax rate. It’s complicated, so in making comparisons among cities we have used the most common property tax situation in each city as the basis for this comparison.
Here are the numbers:
Final 2006 Residential Homestead Taxes for a Single Family Home with a Market Value of $414,000 in selected Hennepin County communities (click to enlarge):
Very interesting. Eden Prairie is right in there near the bottom end of the property tax burden for these comparable Hennepin County cities. We’re working on some more comparisons for other comparable cities across the Twin Cities metro area. I think we will look good in those comparisons too.
