Taxes rising

Own a home in St. Paul? Your property taxes will increase, with large hikes in some neighborhoods.
Taxes on the city’s $228,700 median-valued home could rise by $338, or 11 percent. In Frogtown and other neighborhoods where values have played catchup since the 2007-2008 housing market collapse and recession, the increases would be even greater.
East Side neighborhoods and the North End would also see large jumps in value and taxes. Other neighborhoods would have smaller increases, even in areas where values remain flat or even decline slightly.
What a homeowner actually pays is based upon a home’s value, comparable sales of properties and whether or not physical improvements have been made to the home. But median values give an idea of the picture by neighborhood.
The highest increase citywide was Dayton’s Bluff where the market value leapt 16.5 percent from 2021 to 2022, from $178,500 to $194,700. Taxes were $2,026 in 2021 and would increase by $508 or 25.1 percent to $2,534.
Of Monitor area neighborhoods, Frogtown would see the greatest percentage increase. The median value home went from $163,300 in 2020 to $173,000 in 2021, for a 5.9 percent increase. Property taxes on that median value home were $2,207 in 2021 and would be $2,456 in 2022. That is a $250 or 11.3 percent increase.
In contrast, St. Anthony Park’s median home value dipped slightly, from $390,800 in 2021 to $389,800 in 2022. That’s a 0.3 percent decline. Property taxes, which were at $5,987 in 2021 would increase 3.5 percent or $207 to $6,194.
The Hamline-Midway median value home would increase 4.9 percent, from $197,800 to $207,500. Property taxes would increase from $2,780 to $3,052, or $272 or 9.8 percent.
The Como median value home would increase 1.2 percent from $256,900 in 2021 to $260,000 in 2022. Property taxes would increase $196, from $3,762 in 2021 to $3,958 in 2022.
Union Park neighborhoods of Merriam Park, Snelling-Hamline and Lexington-Hamline would also see a slight increase, from $335,100 to $338,700, or 1.1 percent. Property taxes would increase 5 percent or $251, from $5,062 to $5,313.

Levies are set
State law requires local governments to set maximum levies by Sept. 30. The St. Paul School Board unanimously approved its maximum levy Sept. 27. The levy increase approved is a 3.15 percent increase over the 2021 levy.
The total levy proposed for 2022 is at $202,788,045, up from $196,588,254 in 2021.
The school district is typically the last of the three local units of government to set its levy, as it relies on numbers from the state.
The school levy is split among four categories, with two of the four seeing decreases and the other two increasing.
The operating levy would increase almost $5.6 million, from $74,575,928 in 2021 to $80,169,761 in 2022. The levy for pensions, benefits and contracts would increase just over $1 million, from $43,190,748 in 2021 to $44,246,698 in 2022.
The facilities levy would decrease by about $312,000, from $4,212,527 in 2021 to $4,074,564 in 2022. Also projected for a slight decline is the community service levy, which funds programs including community education and early childhood family education. It would decrease by almost $138,000, from $4,212,527 in 2021 to $4,074,564 in 2022.
The school district relies on a mix of local, state and federal dollars for operations, with about 22 percent of the budget coming from the levy.
For 2021, the district had a 5 percent levy increase.
The Ramsey County Board set its maximum property tax levy Sept. 21. Ramsey County’s property tax levy is poised for a 1.55 percent increase in 2022. The levy would support a budget of $772.8 million for 2022.
The budget numbers represents a 3.2 percent increase of $24 million in 2022. The proposed 2022 county budget is $772,845,689. County commissioners held the levy flat for 2021.
Before setting the maximum levy Sept. 15, St. Paul City Council members emphasized that they hope to lower what is now a 6.9 percent increase. Council members have said they’d rather have seen a smaller increase of 2 to 4 percent.
Mayor Melvin Carter’s 2022 budget is based in part on a 6.9 percent levy increase. The city held its property tax levy flat for 2021, citing economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At $713 million, the proposed budget is 12.6 percent higher than the $633 million city budget in 2021 and 10.2 percent higher than the $647 million city budget in 2020. The proposed levy for 2022 is $176.6 million. That is an increase of $11.4 million from the 2021 levy.
Property tax notices go out in November, with individual property information, information on homeowner refund programs and dates of tax hearings.