Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

There are only two things certain in life, death & taxes, but not always October 15, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:01 AM
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FOR A FLEETING MOMENT I thought I’d made an error.

You know that moment—when you think your luck has shifted and your day is about to become very good.

That happened last Friday when I received a letter from the Rice County Auditor-Treasurer’s office. Inside I found my check for payment of my second half property taxes. The check was being returned, the correspondence noted, because all taxes were already paid.

What? Had I made an error? I checked my records. No, no mistake. For a moment I considered that perhaps an anonymous philanthropist had paid my taxes.

Within the hour, I was at the Auditor-Treasurer’s office inquiring. Computer problems, the employee explained, resulted in the erroneous check return. I still owed $311 and could expect a follow-up letter.

Sure enough, the next day a letter arrived:

A snippet of the letter I received with identifying info cropped.

A snippet of the letter I received with identifying info cropped.

Rats.

How many other Rice County property owners received the first letter and momentarily celebrated? Legally, would a property owner need to pay his/her taxes if he/she received a “paid in full” notice like I got?

Why wasn’t the error caught before the initial letter was mailed? Are “issues with our computers” truly “issues with our computers?” Or can issues be traced to a human?

And, yes, I got a receipt from the county employee after my office visit. Proof that I’d paid my taxes. In full.

If you haven’t yet paid your property taxes and live in Minnesota, your second half payment is due today, October 15. Unless, of course, a mysterious benefactor has secretly paid on your behalf.

© Copyright 2015 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Hotdish on a Saturday November 19, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:53 AM
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RATHER THAN DWELL on a single topic today, I’m going to serve hotdish. You know, this and that all mixed together to create this Minnesota-based post.

  • First off, if you follow my writing regularly, you know that I hang laundry outside. But even I’m beginning to wonder about my obsession. When I hung freshly-laundered towels outside Thursday morning, the outdoor air temperature stood at a bone-chilling 17 degrees. Yes, the towels froze nearly instantly. My fingers did not; I worked at a rapid pace. And, yes, the towels were dry when I pulled them from the line at 4 p.m.
  • Our proposed 2012 property tax statement arrived on Wednesday. I nearly fell over. The taxable market value of our property plunged $30,000 to $50,200. If this keeps up, the value will be lower than the price we paid for our house in 1984. The interest rate on our loan then was 10.75 percent. No typo, folks. Nearly 11 percent. (The loan was refinanced to 8.5 percent and paid off early long ago.)

Even though our proposed 2012 property value dropped $30K, our taxes will apparently increase by 12.6 percent or $72. Now tell me that makes sense? There’s a story here; I simply need to figure it all out.

  • If you dye your hair with an over-the-counter product and don’t use the same color or brand you’ve always used, beware. If your hair shows tinges of orange during the dying process, you should panic. This happened to me once.

Wednesday night, with a new color and a new product, the dye appeared white on my head. I do not need white hair to replace my gray hair. But this time I did not panic, trusting that the color would magically transform to the promised “tiki hut.” It did. Whew. I will not need to fire my hairdresser.

  • Back to the money thing. Every time I go to the grocery store, I walk out shaking my head. I cannot believe that I just paid $80 for groceries that fill only two bags.
  • After 10 months of placing cardboard over my living room windows because I didn’t have window treatments for my new windows, I am happy to announce that I have purchased grommet-top panels, the same ones I was eying, oh, about 10 months ago. It is a good thing I waited so long. I got them on sale.

The panels are bold and colorful and unlike anything anyone would expect to find in my home. This is proof that even I can occasionally emerge from my conservative shell. I expect the panels to be in place by Thanksgiving. (Yes, I will post about them here and show you photos.)

  • My 17-year-old made his acting debut Thursday evening as Dr. Thanatos in the Faribault High School production of Teenage Night of Living Horror. When I heard the name of the play, I laughed. Those teens won’t have to act, I thought. Wrong.

Consider dressing like a Zombie if you attend the FHS play. Here's one of the 25 Zombies from the production.

If you live anywhere near the Faribault area, you have two more opportunities to attend this horror genre production. (Don’t bring young children.) Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday. Word has it that if you arrive tonight looking like a Zombie, your ticket price will be discounted $1. No official confirmation on that…

FEEL FREE to comment on any of the above. Let your voice be heard.

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The continuing property value downward spiral December 8, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:47 AM
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THE ARRIVAL OF OUR 2011 PROPERTY tax statement in the mail last week has thrown me for a loop. I don’t know why, though, since my head hasn’t been stuck in the sand and I am acutely aware of plummeting property values.

Let’s consider the positive first. Our proposed 2011 tax, without special assessments, is dropping 22 percent. Yahoo. I like seeing that minus sign before a double digit number in the tax column.

If everything remains as projected, my husband and I will pay $506 in property taxes and $22 in special assessments next year. I can handle that.

About now some of you are probably wondering whether we live in a cardboard box with those “low” taxes. I assure you that we live in a modest, small-by-today’s-standards, old home along a busy street in Faribault.

Our modest Faribault home

Now back to those numbers on that statement. When I look at the taxable market value of our home, I’m not quite as enthusiastic. Let me restate that. I am not at all enthusiastic.

The value of our 1 ½-story, one bathroom, three-bedroom home has dropped 13 percent from $92,300 to $80,200. That’s a $12,100 decrease.

I am a bit surprised by this dip below $90,000, although I really shouldn’t be given how slowly houses are selling, if at all, in Faribault or anywhere. Yet, you like to think that your house is immune from devaluation. Clearly ours, once valued as high as $111,700 (in 2007), is not.

My curiosity piqued, I opened a file cabinet and pulled out past property tax statements and bills. I compared figures back to 1998.

Our proposed property tax and taxable market value on our home today nearly match those for 2003.

This current devaluation is all a bit depressing and would be even more so if we were trying to sell. But we’re not. The house is paid for and we have no specific reason to move.

That brings up another issue. When my husband and I purchased our house in October 1984, the fixed interest rate for our 30-year mortgage was 10 ¾ percent. Eight years later we refinanced to a 8 ¾ percent, 15-year loan, which we paid off early.

So, when I hear about mortgage rates hovering around four percent today, I feel a twinge of jealousy. Even factoring in today’s housing costs compared to 26 years ago, we could have bought so much more house with an interest rate that incredibly low.

But it is what it is and I’m glad we’ve stuck it out in the same house for nearly three decades. We’ve invested hours and hours of sweat equity and money to improve our house and it’s paid for. In today’s economy, I like that feeling of security.

HOW HAVE YOUR PROPERTY values and taxes changed, if at all? How does this affect you?

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling