In a story previously reported on KDWA, the Hastings City Council is looking to approve the 2017 city budget, which includes a preliminary proposed tax rate of just over 62 percent. This is a proposed property tax rate, and, although seemingly high, is actually not as steep as it may sound. According to Hastings Financial Manager Rebecca Petersen and information from the MN Department of Revenue, essentially, your home is not taxed at its market value, but through tax code calculations, a value of tax capacity is established. Using an example of a home hypothetically valued at 116 thousand dollars, a tax capacity can be established at 892 dollars. The tax rate is then applied to that 892 dollars. In this example, the 62.27 percent tax rate would generate a net tax of just over 555 dollars on the hypothetical 116 thousand dollar home. The City Council cannot readjust the tax rate above the preliminary proposed tax rate. Links to more information can be found below. http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/propertytax/Documents/hmve-taxpayers.pdf
https://www.hastingsmn.gov/city-government/city-budget
