The Minonk City Council held a Truth in Taxation Public Hearing on Monday, December 7th. City Administrator Doug Elder said the levy will be the same that was stipulated at the previous Council meeting when they did the tax levy estimate. Elder said it will be a total of $502,658 compared to the levy extension from last year which was $444,349. This is a 13% increase when comparing those two numbers. However, Elder said that will not result in a 13% increase in your tax and the reason is the assessed valuation last year was $23,540,000 and the estimated assessed valuation (tax value) will be almost $25,108,000 for this year, a very healthy increase in the taxable value of almost 7%. This means that a 13% increase in the levy will only result in a 6% increase in the tax rate. Elder said, "If your assessed valuation on your home this coming year is the same as it was the year before, then the City portion of the taxes will be right at 6% higher."
Elder said that they cannot publish in the paper that it is a 6% increase in the rate and it has to be published as a 13% increase in the levy request compared to what was extended by the County Clerk last year. He said it is a little misleading because there are other things that play into it.