SPRING GROVE, Minn. (KTTC) -- Property tax hikes in Spring Grove have some residents needing some clarification? A petition is being passed in hopes of getting some answers.
We spoke to one business owner who said that his rate increased 26-percent while another business down the road said his went up nearly twice that, at 56-percent. And other property owners went as high as 75!
What's going on here?
It began in December when the 2012 proposed tax increases were announced. Already, some concerned citizens were beginning to express their frustrations through the editorial section of the local newspaper.
Shortly after, Bruce Poole created a concerned citizens group and collected around 130 signatures wanting clarification as to why the increases are so much and so sporadic, and then asked Attorney General Lori Swanson for some help.
"And they give us these papers that I guess the state had done where they had changed the homeowner's exemptions to a new way of calculating," said Poole. "And it's pretty much incomprehensible to most of the people in town."
We spoke with Spring Grove Mayor Saundra Solum tonight about a concerned citizens meeting Tuesday evening. She told us the increase estimate residents were given may not be the amount they will actually have to pay.
The official amount is determined by a tax software program. It all depends on the change in the city's budget for this fiscal year.
