What the question would add to a property tax bill
A calculator for the first year, the district advisor’s table, and examples for Nowthen.
The district's financial advisor estimates that a $400,000 home would pay $419 more in taxes payable 2027 if the question passes. Farms, rentals, and businesses pay too, because both parts of the question are taxes on net tax capacity.
What would it cost my property in the first year?
Your property
Use the 2026 estimated market value on your spring 2026 valuation notice. Taxes payable 2027 are based on it.
Estimated change if the question passes
- School building bonds
- $202
- Capital project levy
- $217
- Total a year
- $419
- A month
- $35
First-year estimate (taxes payable 2027). The district has not published how the bond portion changes in later years.
Scenario, not forecast. Lines may not add exactly because each is rounded to the dollar.
Assumptions
- The combined rate is 10.7591% of net tax capacity, the figure in the district advisor's calculator.
- The split is calculated. The capital project levy is the ballot's 5.579%, and the bonds are the remaining 5.180%. The advisor did not publish a split.
- The agricultural credit is 70% of the bond portion on farmland and rural vacant land, and none on the house, garage, and one acre. The capital project levy gets no credit.
- The estimate is before the homestead credit refund, which can lower a homeowner's net cost depending on income. It assumes no debt service equalization aid, which the district did not receive for taxes payable 2026.
How this was calculated
- Market value becomes net tax capacity under Minn. Stat. § 273.13. Homesteads first subtract the homestead exclusion (40% of value up to $95,000, then $38,000 minus 9% of value over $95,000, gone at $517,200). Homes are taxed at 1% of the first $500,000 and 1.25% above. Rentals with two or more units are 1.25%. Commercial is 1.5% of the first $150,000 and 2% above. Homestead farmland is 0.5% and other farmland 1%.
- Net tax capacity here is $3,894.50.
- Bonds are $3,894.50 × 5.1801% = $201.74.
- The capital project levy is $3,894.50 × 5.579% = $217.27.
- At the advisor's published values, this method reproduces all 20 rows of its June 6, 2026 table to the dollar.
What did the district’s advisor publish?
A table of 20 example properties dated June 6, 2026. The calculator above reproduces every row to the dollar.
| Property type | Estimated market value | Annual | Monthly | Calculator above |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential homestead | $200,000 | $184 | $15 | $184 |
| Residential homestead | $300,000 | $302 | $25 | $302 |
| Residential homestead | $350,000 | $360 | $30 | $360 |
| Residential homestead | $400,000 | $419 | $35 | $419 |
| Residential homestead | $450,000 | $478 | $40 | $478 |
| Residential homestead | $500,000 | $536 | $45 | $536 |
| Residential homestead | $550,000 | $605 | $50 | $605 |
| Residential homestead | $600,000 | $672 | $56 | $672 |
| Residential homestead | $700,000 | $807 | $67 | $807 |
| Residential homestead | $800,000 | $941 | $78 | $941 |
| Residential homestead | $1,000,000 | $1,210 | $101 | $1,210 |
| Residential non-homestead multi-unit and apartments | $500,000 | $672 | $56 | $672 |
| Residential non-homestead multi-unit and apartments | $1,000,000 | $1,345 | $112 | $1,345 |
| Residential non-homestead multi-unit and apartments | $2,000,000 | $2,690 | $224 | $2,690 |
| Residential non-homestead multi-unit and apartments | $3,000,000 | $4,035 | $336 | $4,035 |
| Residential non-homestead multi-unit and apartments | $5,000,000 | $6,724 | $560 | $6,724 |
| Commercial and industrial | $500,000 | $995 | $83 | $995 |
| Commercial and industrial | $1,000,000 | $2,071 | $173 | $2,071 |
| Commercial and industrial | $2,000,000 | $4,223 | $352 | $4,223 |
| Commercial and industrial | $5,000,000 | $10,678 | $890 | $10,678 |
Estimated first-year change in taxes payable 2027, as published by Ehlers. The last column is this site's calculation. Ehlers says commercial and industrial figures would be lower in Anoka and Hennepin counties because of the Fiscal Disparities program.Ehlers
Ehlers' figures include “principal and interest payments on the new bonds, other capital and debt service levies, and capital project levies only.” They are gross increases before the homestead credit refund, which some homeowners receive based on income. The table has no farm rows, although the district's financing page says the advisor's report covers “a homeowner, farmstead or business property.”EhlersISD 728
What would it cost in Nowthen?
About $565 a year for the median homestead in Nowthen’s ISD 728 area, valued at $520,300.
That median comes from the 513 single-unit residential homesteads in Nowthen's ISD 728 area on the county's 2026 tax roll. The middle half of them are valued between $436,000 and $594,300, which works out to about $461 to $665 a year. The Nowthen average home value used elsewhere on this site, $480,372, comes to about $513.Anoka County GIS
These use the same method as the advisor's table. Taxes payable 2027 will be based on the 2026 assessment, so each owner's own valuation notice is a better input than these roll values.
Farm examples
Of Nowthen's 878 ISD 728 parcels, 197 are agricultural. For farmland, the state pays 70% of the bond portion through the school building bond agricultural credit. The capital project levy portion gets no credit.Anoka County GISMinnesota Revisor of Statutes
| Example | Owner pays a year | State credit | Without the credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farm homestead, house $400,000, land $600,000 | $633 | $109 | $742 |
| Farm homestead, house $400,000, land $1,500,000 | $954 | $272 | $1,226 |
| Farmland not homesteaded, $600,000 | $428 | $218 | $646 |
| Farmland not homesteaded, $1,500,000 | $1,070 | $544 | $1,614 |
Calculated first-year change, taxes payable 2027. Neither the district nor its advisor published farm figures. Homestead land is assumed to be below the first-tier limit, taxed at 0.5%.Minnesota Revisor of StatutesMinnesota Revisor of Statutes
What does the first-year figure leave out?
Later years. The published estimates cover taxes payable 2027 only.
The capital project levy is a fixed rate, so the dollars it raises change with the tax base over its ten years.Minnesota Revisor of Statutes
For the bonds, the district says new debt is “timed to fill the slots of older, retiring debt.” An Ehlers chart from June 2026 shows the district's existing debt and capital tax rates stepping down from taxes payable 2026 through 2040 as old bonds are paid off.ISD 728Ehlers for ISD 728
To translate those rates into dollars, each point of tax rate costs about $39 a year on a $400,000 home and about $53 on the median Nowthen home in the district ($520,300), at today's values. A drop of several points as old debt retires is several times those amounts each year.
If the new bonds fill those slots, a property's school debt tax under a yes vote would stay closer to today's level, while under a no vote it would fall as old debt retires. The difference between the two outcomes would then grow in later years. That reading is an inference. The full debt plan for the proposed bonds, with rates by year, would confirm or correct it, and it has not been published.
For context, Nowthen's ISD 728 taxing area pays a school net tax capacity rate of 24.502% for taxes payable 2026, of which 10.175% is voter-approved. It also pays a school market value rate of 0.254770% for the operating referendum.Anoka County
Sources for the method
- The combined rate of 10.7590899674104% of net tax capacity is read from the advisor's calculator.Ehlers calculator
- The ballot sets the capital project levy at 5.579% of net tax capacity.Resolution
- Class rates and the homestead exclusion are those in Minn. Stat. § 273.13 as published by the Revisor, which the advisor's calculator also follows.Minn. Stat. § 273.13
- The agricultural credit is 70% of eligible net tax capacity times the school debt tax rate, which is the debt service levy divided by net tax capacity.Minn. Stat. § 273.1387Minn. Stat. § 275.08