Historic House may be foreclosed...
Are taxes high in Cannon Falls?

“I just want someone to care.” Sentimentally, Diana Farr looked around the historic house she owned at 300 Mill Street in Cannon Falls.

The sign on the lawn explains that it is the Van Campen House. It was built in the late 1800’s by Henry Van Campen, the son of pioneer Benjamin H. Van Campen who had a distinguished house across the street. The elder Van Campen’s site is presently a parking lot because the original structure was moved to the Midwest Importers property southwest of the city.

“I walk through here quietly and feel the people who built it,” Diana Farr explained, “and the joy that was here.” Today Farr is apparently losing the house to foreclosure.
The taxes on her building in Cannon Falls, she believes, is the reason she hasn’t sold it. Since the property has gone from residential/commercial to all commercial, (it has two tenants with single room offices), the taxes have just about doubled to over $13,000.
If reclassified as just residential, the taxes on a $398,200 property, approximately the valuation of her property, would be about $5,430 according to Goodhue County Assessor Peggy Trebil. A property is classified as to its use on January 2 of the year. The 2008 levy rate was 131.675. In 2009 this rate dropped to 124.741.
The tax on commercial property is 1.5 % on the first $150,000 and 2% on anything over this.
The total tax on commercial property in the city combines that of the city, county, state, school, hospital and HRA. There is no state levy on residential property but there is on seasonal recreation property like a cabin, etc. which is already taxed at the non-homestead rate.

County 3050.27, City 4609.61, State 3285.35, School 1331.28 and 603.05 = 1934.33, Hospital 246.10, SEMHRA 53.41, TOTAL: $13,179.07 with Special assessments 565.53 and Delinquent 90.07 and 185.33.

One of the highest taxed commercial properties in Cannon Falls apparently is the recently purchased First National Bank - now Merchants Bank. They pay $38,168 for their building and two parking lots. Another commercial building paying $14,096 is First Farmers and Merchants.

Taxes have been a topic of concern in Cannon Falls for several years. A study by the Praxis Strategy Group hired by the city showed that Cannon Falls has the highest taxes compared to Red Wing, Northfield, Hastings, New Prague sand Stillwater.

For example, Cannon Falls has the highest residential homestead taxes on a $185,000 home. But this is only $12 above a similar one in New Prague and less than $70 higher than one in Red Wing.

Aaron Reeves, Cannon Falls city administrator, explained how the city tries to keep their portion of the taxes as low as possible while trying to provide the services the residents need and want.
Besides the levy, the city applies for funding from grants, etc. They also make sure that developers, for example, pay for the services they use up front.
The main emphasis to getting lower taxes, Reeves explained, is to encourage commercial/industrial growth.

And as one city official who wished to be unidentified said encouragingly, “This is as bad as it should get.”

The tax rates are set by state legislators to be carried out by the county assessors.
Local legislators are: Rep. Pat Garofalo District 36B, Rep.Tim Kelly District 28B, Sen. Steve Murphy District 28 and Sen. Pat Pariseau District 36.

International Scam foiled...

International scam

foiled by Grandpa!

He was just setting down to noon dinner when the phone rang.

Ken Axelson of Wanamingo picked it up to hear, “Hi Grandpa!”
He was trying to figure out which grandchild it could have been and asked, “which one are you?”
“Katie,” was the response. She went on to explain that she was stuck up in Canada because she had a little problem with the law.

Ken asked, “Do you need money?”

“Katie” responded, “I need $2500.”

Ken explained, “Well, I don’t know how to send money.”
“Katie” explained, “Well, you go to the bank and get $2500 in cash and then you go to Wal-Mart... you have a Wal-Mart there don’t you?”

Ken now figured out that this was not his granddaughter Katie calling because she would have known that there isn’t a Wal-Mart in Wanamingo!
So that was a red flag there.

Ken didn’t say anything but let “Katie” go on talking. She explained how he would get the money from the bank and then get a moneygram from Wal-Mart. She gave him the address to send it to and a phone number.

After she hung up, Ken called his son, who is the father of the real Katie and found out that he had just talked to his daughter about five minutes before at her work - and not in Canada!
Ken also called his real granddaughter, Katie, to make sure she was O.K.
He then knew for sure it wasn’t “my Katie” who had called.

It was a scam.

Ken went down to talk to the officers at the local Sheriff’s office and Deputy Tom Wolner explained that the phoney “Katie” would be calling back.
As soon as Ken got home, the phone was ringing. The Canadian “Katie” said, the officer at the customs office wanted to know how soon the money would be getting there?

But by this time, Ken had decided to have a little fun himself!
He mischieviously told the phoney “Katie” that he had gone to the bank and had $2500 in $100 bills.
“ I’ve got them right here in my hand.” he said beguilingly. “They look nice.”
Then Ken delivered his masterpiece by saying, “But you know, ‘Katie’, I got to thinking.
“I never did like you. So I’m not going to send the money to you!”
Ken said the conversation “went downhill from there!”

And he had foiled an attempt to cheat a concerned grandparent out of their money.
But other people haven’t been so fortunate. A recent newspaper report stated that one person lost a total of $12,000 when trying to help out their grandchild.

The moral of the story may be, don’t mess with a Grandpa from a small town in Minnesota!

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The laughing comes after...

Tales about snowstorms can be scary unless you’re telling them to friends. And they can see you survived. And they’ve got their own stories to tell.

It was at a “get-together” at the little Wangen Prairie church in the valley that I started telling folks about our trek home during the recent snow storm. Paul and I had been sitting in the Cannon Falls library when it started. But it didn’t look too bad. No need to hurry.

By the time we left we unknowingly were in the worst part of the storm. Entering Highway 52 we couldn’t see the cars or trucks except for their headlights. And if these would have been covered with snow we could be in big trouble.
Turning off onto County Road 24 didn’t help much. You couldn’t see the road.

I got out and started walking in front of the car while Paul drove. I would feel for the road through my boots. We knew there were ravines along that road.
It wasn’t until we were home that Paul told me at times I had disappeared into the snow too.

The folks at Wangen Prairie hooted with laughter as they pictured me being a new fangled hood ornament!

And that reminded Carol Schiell of the time she was trying to get to her job in Northfield during an ice storm. It was pay day and she was responsible for getting every ones’ checks to them.

Her husband, Gene, didn’t want her to go but since she insisted, he said she wasn’t heading out without him. And he decided to bring a bucket of ashes from their wood burning stove to provide traction if needed.
Well, it was needed. After getting stuck and pushing the car a couple of times, Gene figured that Carol should drive and he would sit on the hood of the car and throw the ashes ahead of it for better traction.

But Carol was concerned that he might slip off the hood and the headlines in the newspaper would read that she had run over her husband in the storm!

Then Betty Ann Hernke recalled driving near the area affected by the tornado that hit Vasa. Her husband, Alan, was riding along. The roar of the wind and the hail pummeling their tiny P.T. Cruiser was deafening. They had to yell just to hear each other.
Betty Ann pulled off onto a field road and then pointed their little car further down into the ditch while they waited for the winds to die down.

But that’s not the only storm Betty Ann has been in. It seemed like if there was a storm brewing, she was near it! That got us all laughing, although wondering if we should be a little cautious when riding anywhere with Betty Ann!

And this brought the scenario from Audrey McKeag as she recalled the tornado that hit their home near Highways 56 and 19. She had picked up her four grandchildren and was heading into her driveway when she saw a television news helicopter in the air. She knew that meant trouble.
Audrey considered staying in the garage but then hurried them all into the house. This turned out to be fortunate because the garage was totally destroyed.
Inside the house Audrey got everyone down into the basement root cellar where they were safe.

On a previous tornado sighting, Audrey had also taken refuge in the basement.
But then she heard the phone ring upstairs. She hurried back up and picked up the receiver to hear her son Mike warn, “A tornado is headed your way, Mom. Get down in the basement!”
Audrey exclaimed, “That’s where I was before I came upstairs to answer the phone!”

Ahhh yes... it is sweet to be able to share these stories... and smile with friends.


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The early morning chill
turned a black mane
into
a frosted hair-do!



for the "queen" of our herd...

Noche Carina.