Some property owners in Sherburne County who recently received their tax statements for 2013 may be wondering how the county figured their proposed taxes. Many properties saw their taxable value decrease or stay the same while taxes increased. Other properties will pay lower taxes in 2013 even though their taxable value didn’t change much. Dan Weber, Sherburne County assessor, says it’s a complex process that involves a number of factors. “It depends on what the values did, what the classification is and what the tax rates are in each jurisdiction,” he says. The Market Value Exclusion (MVE) formula introduced by state lawmakers in 2011 that replaced Market Value Credit changed the way property values are calculated. Under the MVE, that credit is deducted up front from the value of the property, which lowers the market value of the home. It also causes tax rates to increase to compensate for lower market values throughout the county. Now with MVE, homes valued up to $76,000 get a 40% reduction off their market value. That percentage drops as the home’s value increases. The exclusion disappears completely when a home reaches $414,000. So as residential properties continue to drop in value, lower-valued properties see more in tax savings. That shifts the tax burden to higher-priced properties, commercial properties and farms. Weber says the average residential property in the county saw a 10.4% decrease in taxable value this year. Commercial and industrial properties dropped an average of 1.69%. Apartments increased an average of .4% and agricultural properties jumped 6.35% because of changes in the Green Acres program. The average tax rate increase county-wide this year was 5.93%. So multiplying that number by the changes in taxable values, residential properties will see an average tax bill 4.47% lower in 2013. Commercial/industrial properties will see an average tax increase of 4.24%. Taxes on apartments will increase 6.33% and farms will pay an average of 12.28% more in taxes. But Weber says those numbers are only an average. “Every individual property is going to be a little different,” he says. The county-wide tax rate is increasing from 52.014% to 54.578%. But local tax rates will also have an effect on individual properties. Big Lake City is looking at a proposed tax rate increase from 50.404 to 56.453, with School Dist. 727 rate increasing from 45.105 to 46.805 and the hospital tax rate increasing from 1.24 to 3.03. Becker City is proposing a tax rate decrease from 30.485 to 29.640, with School Dist. 726 dropping its rate from 24.509 to 23.301. Big Lake Twp. is proposing a slight tax rate decrease from 15.784 to 15.299 and Becker Twp. is anticipating a slight increase from 20.227 to 20.552. Commercial properties that might have seen a slight decrease could pay higher taxes because the state increased its rate from 51.1% to 53%. And state taxes on seasonal recreation properties increased from 20.75% to 23%. Weber says proposed taxes listed on the tax notices are not likely to increase because the county and other jurisdictions have already certified their preliminary 2013 budgets, which can be lowered but not increased. For those who are interested in finding out more about how county taxes will be spent in 2013, the Truth in Taxation meeting is 6 p.m. Monday at the Government Center.