GreeningFrogtownNovDec

example from an owner-occupied home
on Van Buren Ave. In 201 8, the assessed
value was $11 4,900. For 201 9, it’s
$1 40,900. The tax and assessment bill
will increase from $1 ,556 to $1 ,988. If the
referendum for increased school funding
passes in the Nov. 6 election, another
$1 09 gets tacked on, for a total of $2,097,
or a $542 gain.
For renters — about 62 percent of
Frogtown residents — the tax load on
property can be even more significant.
Owner-occupants get a special tax break
that allows them to deduct about $25,550
from the assessed value of a median
priced Frogtown home. No such luck for
renters, since rental property doesn’t get
this tax deal. Here’s another real-world
example on how this works out on a
Sherburne Ave. single-family rental home.
The 201 8 assessed value was $88,500.
For 201 9, it’s $11 5,1 00. Assuming the
school referendum passes, taxes and
assessments will increase from $1 ,532 to
$2,027, a $495 jump.
Which is to say, landlords may be looking
to recover higher costs by raising rents. If
you’re a renter who’s willing to do some
digging, you can figure out whether your
landlord is actually looking at a
significant tax hike based on assessed
value gains. Go to tinyurl.com/FrogtownTax,
enter your address, hit search, and click on
the parcel ID in the upper left corner.
Scroll down to Statements and Notices,
and compare the 201 8 to 201 7 "Value
Notice." Statements for actual taxes
payable in 201 9 should appear in the
same location by mid-November.
As usual, there are a lot of ways to
interpret tax facts. Higher taxes put a
squeeze on those renters and homeowners
who are already barely getting by. But for
Frogtowners who bought a home at the
height of the market before the 2008
recession, increasing home values mean
that someday, maybe, they won’t be
underwater on their mortgage. For lowincome
householders, the most likely path
to generational wealth is a home that they
own. That doesn’t work if values never
increase. Higher taxes hurt today, but a
house that’s worth less than when you
bought it is a long-term loss. The big
picture here: value gains are everything at
once: good, bad and complicated.
This old house: 1 6.3 percent assessed
property value gains in Frogtown are
the highest in St. Paul.
FROGTOWN NEWS
What Was This About?
Maybe you noticed the signs that
temporarily sprouted along Victoria and
Minnehaha in September, declaring “We
Will Not Be Moved,” and, on the flip
side, “Black and Brown Owned: It’s
Wilder.”
So, what’s the story? First, some
background. “It’s Wilder” refers to the
Wilder Square Town Homes, 1 63 units of
cooperatively-owned housing
concentrated near the intersection of
Minnehaha and Victoria. They were built
by the Wilder Foundation between 1 973
and 1 975, and managed by Wilder until
2009. After a restructuring, Wilder got
out of the management business. A local
firm, Real Estate Equities, was later hired
by the co-op’s resident-elected board to
manage the property.
A co-op is different than a straight rental
apartment. Residents buy a share when
they move in, and then own a piece of the
pie. To make management decisions they
elect a board, which is in charge of
balancing shareholders' monthly costs
versus the need to make timely repairs
and improvements, among other issues.
Residents’ monthly payments will likely
seem like a bargain to most Frogtown
renters. A studio apartment goes for $488
per month, a one-bedroom for as little as
$629, a two-bedroom for $787, and a
three-bedroom for $881 . Ninety-three of
those units are project-based Section 8, a
housing assistance program that is
attached to the property, while another 1 7
units are occupied by residents who
qualify for individual Section 8 vouchers,
according to Terrence Troy, chairman of
Real Estate Equities.
The path that led to that sudden
blossoming of “We Will Not Be Moved”
signage began when Troy’s firm offered
to buy out co-op members and take over
ownership. Tenants who remained would
become straight-up renters instead of
shareholding owners. Like all renters,
they’d be dealing with a landlord instead
of a board they had elected. The buy-out
offer created turmoil between residents
who saw it as a chance to put buy-out
money in their pocket, and others who
believed it meant that ultimately
they’d pay more for housing.
Beyond this, the facts get murky. The
town home board leadership didn’t want
to discuss their internal affairs. No
complaining about that — nothing says
they have to. The resident most active in
organizing against the buy out did not
return phone calls. No problem there
either. If he doesn’t want to talk, that’s
his right. Troy at Real Estate Equities
agreed to meet, and explained that in the
face of so much contention, his firm had
backed off its offer.
The Frogtown Neighborhood
Association, which helped tenants resist
a buy-out and plant those signs, declined
several times to discuss why they
intervened in the affairs of another
neighborhood resident-elected board,
and what actions they took in support of
tenants resisting a buy-out.
OPENNESS AND FNA: AN OPINION
In this issue we made an effort to do
what newspapers often do — that is,
find out what the people who
represent us are up to. With the
Frogtown Neighborhood Association,
we weren't very successful.
The FNA is one of the City of St.
Paul’s 1 7 district councils, set up in
1 975 to provide a link between city
government and neighborhoods. By
the city’s lights, the district councils
“create opportunities for residents to
learn about what is happening in their
neighborhoods and collaborate with
one another and city government to
maintain and improve the quality of
life in neighborhoods.” To pursue this
work, the city allocated the FNA
$61 ,41 8 in 201 8.
As a non-profit organization, the FNA
has no obligation under Minnesota law
to talk about what it does. Whether
that jibes with its mission is another
question.
We were unable to persuade the FNA
to discuss why they intervened in the
affairs of the Wilder Square Town
Home board and shareholders, even
though by festooning local streets
with placards declaring, "We Will Not
Be Moved," they made the dispute
very public, albeit dimly understood
by most passersby.
It's an odd approach to "creating
opportunities for residents to learn
what is happening in their
neighborhoods." But it's not the sole
example. As of this writing (Oct. 25),
the FNA does not publish its board
agenda or minutes, list its board
members or consistently update the
calendar of events on its website. For
the organization’s soon-to-be-installed
new board, here's an obvious question:
how much do neighbors deserve to
know about what their citizen
participation organization does for
them?
— Tony Schmitz
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
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