The Canton City Council heard from city resident David Terbeest during its regular meeting on Wednesday, August 11. Terbeest requested the city consider establishing a rural service taxing district that would reduce the tax burden from agriculturally-zoned land within the city limits.
Currently, there are approximately 468 acres of agriculturally-zoned land in Canton, making up about 73% of land within city limits. Six different entities own the parcels. The total taxes payable in 2021 from this ag land was $31,086 with the city of Canton receiving $21,410. In 2020, approximately 14% of total taxes paid to the city came from ag land.
Terbeest, who owns 108 acres inside the city limits, is taxed $6,676 for 2021, with the city receiving about 66% of that amount, $4,432.
As he presented his request, Terbeest said his tax bill has become “quite burdensome.”
“It didn’t used to be a big deal,” he said, “but the tax bill has gotten to be enormous.”
He went on to say that while his land has good value on paper, in “real life” the high taxes make his land less valuable.
Terbeest said the city of Lanesboro had come up with an ordinance to bring relief to property owners in the city with tillable acres. “In essence, it gives tillable land owners a 37% tax break on those acres,” Terbeest explained. “I’m asking the city of Canton to consider it.”
With six land owners potentially affected by this tax break, the city would collect $7,900 less in taxes.
Mayor Nick Prestby noted those tax dollars would have to be made up somewhere, with the burden resting on the other Canton taxpayers.
Terbeest told the council a quarter of his farm is in the city limits, including his homestead with buildings. He estimates that he pays $73 an acre in taxes for his land in city limits compared to $9 an acre for his land in the township.
“Cities were made to help each other take care of things,” Terbeest said. “When it was set up, it wasn’t a big issue, but now city services really don’t do anything for the tillable land. The city services were meant to help the people. I’m just asking for some fairness.”
“I don’t see how we can assess the difference to the remainder of the taxpayers,” said Councilman Carl Ernst.
Without a motion even being made, Councilman Randy Gossman said, “I vote no,” followed by Prestby and Ernst voicing their dissension as well.
At that point, Terbeest said, “I would respectfully like to ask the city of Canton to release my tillable land to the township.”
The council members were not supportive of this request either with Ernst stating that would be a long process, requiring a lot of legal action and discussion. Plus, he stated, that could possibly create a bigger problem if other tillable land owners wanted similar arrangements with the city.
“I don’t even want to consider it. I would be concerned about what kind of precedent it would set for the other properties,” he said.
Gossman also noted he would not support such a request. “This land was purchased with the knowledge that it was located in city limits,” he said. “I think we just need to leave it as it is.”
Nuisance property updates
With no action taken on either request from Terbeest, the council moved on to review the status of nuisance properties that had been identified during the June 15 inspections.
City Clerk Brock Bergey noted a follow-up inspection would be held now that the voluntary compliance deadline had come and gone on August 6. The sheriff’s deputy who had assisted Bergey during the first inspections would be assisting with the follow up inspections as well.
Overall, Bergey said, the majority of the property owners who were sent letters in June have come into compliance. Seventeen letters were sent out and most were for out-of-date vehicle tabs.
Seven properties continue to have areas of concern, and the hope is to have more issues resolved in time for the upcoming Canton Day Off celebration.
Bergey updated the council on the city-owned land, located south of the Robroy Kelly property. The dirt pile has been removed and weeds cut down. He noted that a survey had been conducted to determine the property line between the city-owned land and the Kelly property. This survey indicated a portion of Kelly’s driveway and yard was actually city-owned property. A dirt pile and weeds were located on the city property, so were removed from the city land.
The Danny Whalen property has seen improvement, Bergey reported. “He has done what he was asked to do at this point,” he said. However, because Whalen is a habitual offender, Bergey explained that he had met with the city attorney regarding possible future civil action against Whalen should there be violations in the future. Criminal citations and fines have done little in the past to discourage this behavior, Bergey said.
Another property on Main Street, owned by Wayne Hall, has a number of weeds and overgrown brush as well as abandoned debris. The front of the building is also in violation of the building maintenance code. In this case, Bergey said, “He has had six weeks to do something and he has done nothing. He’s at the point where he can be cited for his violations. He has not responded to any efforts to reach out and talk to him.”
Gossman volunteered to reach out to Hall and talk with him to encourage some efforts to clean up the property by Canton Day Off.
The former Canton Elementary, owned by Steve Popplewell, continues to be an ongoing area of concern. Bergey explained that the property is subject to forfeiture to the state due to delinquent taxes. Popplewell currently has a court-ordered deadline to bring his property into compliance by January, but has shared with Bergey that he cannot secure financing for any cleanup efforts.
He proposed selling the property to the city for $10,000 and he would use those funds to pay the delinquent taxes. Then the city could use resources that would be available to governmental agencies to aid in the demolition and cleanup of the building. The city would then have 10 lots for future development.
While Bergey said there are funds available to municipalities to clean up properties such as this, he did not advocate for this proposal.
Councilmembers voiced concern about the unknowns associated with the cleanup of this property and did not support the idea of purchasing it.
Bergey explained that Popplewell will likely allow the state to claim the property in the tax foreclosure process, which has an October deadline for bringing the taxes current.
Another property facing tax forfeiture, also a frequent nuisance property, is a parcel owned by Jeremy and Crystal Scrabeck. Bergey recommended the council wait until October to see how this plays out as if it goes into forfeiture, the city would not have to pursue any further legal action.
Finally, a home owned by Donna Oselka and inhabited by Dan Lundy was discussed. Bergey explained that he had received a letter from Oselka’s attorney and in a followup conversation, learned that she was unaware Lundy was living in the home. While that is a private matter, Bergey noted someone still needs to clean up the property.
Other business
The city of Canton continues to look for an independent contractor to serve as an animal control officer on an on-call, as-needed basis. Interested persons should submit a letter of interest and pay proposal to the city clerk at 106 N Main St, Canton, Minn. 55922, or email clerk@cantonmn.com. Proposals will be considered until a qualified candidate is selected. In a related matter, the city reminded residents that it is a violation of the city ordinance to feed stray animals.
The city council presented a certificate of appreciation to Carl Ernst for serving as the animal control officer for 20 years.
In the discussion surrounding the consent agenda, Ernst questioned the item for approval of purchasing polo shirts for the employees at $20 each, for a total of $80. “I don’t see why we have to buy shirts,” he said. “It’s just my opinion that employees can buy their own.” When it came time to vote for the consent agenda as a whole, with that item still included, the motion passed with Cindy Shanks, Josh Nordsving and Prestby voting in favor and Ernst and Gossman voting against the motion. “I think it’s nice to have shirts for our employees to identify them at conferences and for casual Fridays,” Shanks said.
Jim Richardson came in front of the council on behalf of the Canton American Legion to request that the city call Lewiston Monument to move the veterans memorial stone to the new location in the center of the old gazebo. Richardson also asked the city to pay for it and then noted the Legion would be able to use gambling funds to reimburse the city. The council agreed and approved the request.
A building permit application from Rene and Julie Pena was approved for a new garage on their property.
The council ended the meeting by reviewing the budget status for January through June 2021 with a discussion for goals for 2022 and the annual budget. Bergey pointed out water and sewer funds and how the water fund finished 2020 in a deficit with the sewer fund coming out with only $1,100 in the fund at the end of the year. He also noted neither fund had budgets in the past, which, “is a telling sign,” he said. Because these funds’ revenues are limited to utility fees, a possible increase to rates may be needed in the near future.
Finally, Bergey presented a timeline for general fund spending over the past 10 years. In 2021, the general fund expenditures were $114,211. That was the lowest spending had been in the past 10 years. The highest amount was in 2012 with $207,586. Other years in between ranged from $140,853 to $120,617. Bergey explained that he provided this information as the council set goals for the budget so residents could see the city is being fiscally responsible as well as reinforcing the city’s goal to be as transparent as possible with financial documents.
Leave a Reply