The City of Lake Forest Park relies on property taxes to provide basic governmental services such as police and parks. The City of Lake Forest Park is asking voters to decide whether to authorize an increase in property taxes to a levy rate of $1.85 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This increase would apply only to the Lake Forest Park portion of your property tax bill, not your entire tax bill.
The levy’s purpose is to retain existing levels of the City’s public safety, parks, community and other services. The City has already reduced its 2009-10 budget by $931,000 and laid off 8% of its employees, due to structural budgetary problems caused by I-695 and I-747 and exacerbated by the current economy. The City is facing a projected budget deficit of $692,000 for the year 2011.
If approved, this levy would fill the budget gap projected for 2011, and allow the City to avoid the need for additional public safety, parks, community and other governmental service reductions; staff layoffs; or utility tax or rate hikes. The increase would amount to about $138 per year or $11.50 per month for the first year for an average Lake Forest Park home. The levy would run for six years, and would increase annually by inflation (measured by the Consumer Price Index) for the years 2012-2016. The 2016 property tax amount would be used as a base for calculating future years’ property taxes, which would be subject to existing statutory limits.