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Welcome to the City of New Hope Website!

City of New Hope
4401 Xylon Avenue North
New Hope, MN 55428
Phone: 763-531-5100
Fax: 763-531-5136
www.ci.new-hope.mn.us
Email

News & Events

New Hope outdoor ice rinks

The ice rinks at Civic Center, Lions and Hidden Valley parks are open. The rinks at Liberty Park are closed until further notice due to a broken water pipe. Warming houses will be available during the scheduled times. Please note that the rinks are not maintained on weekends.

CERT Stretcher BearersCERT program teaches citizens how to help in disasters

The cities of New Hope and Crystal and West Metro Fire-Rescue have teamed up to form the West Metro Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and to provide disaster training for New Hope and Crystal residents. Applications are currently being accepted for the first CERT training session the weekend of March 9 to 11. The course is free, and open to anyone 15 and older (youth 15 to 18 must be accompanied by an adult).

Click the link below for an application or call 763-531-5170. The deadline for applications is February 10.
For more information, visit the West Metro CERT page.

CERT Application Form

CVS Ribbon Cutting

CVS Pharmacy grand opening at Midland

Julia Gibbons, the store manager for the new CVS Pharmacy in Midland Shopping Center, cut the ribbon during the store’s grand opening celebration on January 18. She was joined by Mayor Kathi Hemken (third from right), Council member John Elder (left), and several CVS staff and executives.

(click on photo to see larger version)

 

New Hope reduces interest on debt by $271,000

In November, the New Hope City Council authorized the city’s bond counsel to purchase new bonds to refinance two sets of General Obligation Tax Increment bonds issued in 2004 and 2005 at lower interest rates. The sale of those 2012 bonds was recently completed. The new bonds will save the city more than $271,000 in interest costs over the terms of the bonds. New Hope will save $18,700 per year for 11 years by replacing $2.69 million in Series 2004 non-taxable general obligation TIF bonds, which helped finance the Winnetka Green townhome project, with similar Series 2012A bonds. The city will also save $3,876 per year for 17 years by replacing $1.33 million in Series 2005A taxable, general obligation bonds, which helped finance the Linden Place/Linden Park project on Boone Avenue, with similar 2012B bonds. The total interest savings that will result from refinancing the bonds are greater than the initial estimates of New Hope’s bond counsel.

New Hope adopts 2012 utility rates

The New Hope City Council approved the 2011 rates the city’s utility customers will pay at its meeting on December 12. There will be no increase in sanitary sewer, storm water, recycling or street light rates in New Hope for 2012. The rates New Hope utility customers pay for water will increase by 7 percent across the board to resolve a deficit in the city’s utility fund and to provide adequate funding for ongoing maintenance and improvements to the city’s water system.

New Hope’s water bill includes a basic service fee and a volume fee based on the number of gallons of water a utility customer uses. The basic service fee for residential customers will go up 40 cents in 2012 to $6.12 per month. Water volume charges are based on a three-tiered, state-mandated, water conservation rate schedule. The volume rate will increase by 7 percent to $4.50 per 1,000 gallons for customers who use less than 10,000 per month, $4.90 per 1,000 gallons for those who use 10,000 to 20,000 gallons, and $5.51 per 1,000 gallons for those who use more than 20,000 gallons a month. Commercial water rates in New Hope will also increase 7 percent in 2012.

The total monthly water bill for a residential water customer who uses 6,000 gallons of water will increase $2.14. While a customer who waters their lawn a lot in the summer, using 18,000 gallons of water during those months, can expect a total increase of $5.86 in their utility bill. New Hope property owners who have questions about the new utility rates or their utility bill may contact the utility billing clerk at 763-592-6760.

City services survey results

A total of 118 residents submitted responses to the New Hope City Services Survey in December. Most of the survey results were submitted online through the Survey Monkey site, a few paper copies were also submitted. The survey results are attached in Adobe Acrobat format below. Please note that because of the low sample size and random nature of those who chose to participate, the survey results are by no means scientific. They do, however, give a general sense of how satisfied (or dissatisfied) New Hope residents are with a number of city services. Overall, 89 percent of survey respondents believe that city services are either good or excellent.

December 2010 New Hope City Services Survey Adobe Acrobat Reader Icon

Council adopts 2012 budget on December 12

The City Council adopted the 2012 budget and tax levy at its regular meeting on December 12. The 2012 budget is $10,312,863, which is $18,864 less than the 2011 adopted budget. The 2012 tax levy is $9,228,730, or a zero increase compared to 2011. Links to a recording of the December 5 budget hearing, the 2012 proposed budget and the budget hearing Powerpoint are provided below:

For additional stories click on a headline below or go to the Media Releases page.
(Click on a headline below to expand that story)

 

Three volunteers receive New Hope Good Citizenship Award

The New Hope City Council presented a New Hope Good Citizenship Award to Charlotte Randolph, Paj Lor and Joel Vodis at its meeting on November 28. The purpose of the new award program is to recognize individuals who exemplify good citizenship through their volunteer work in New Hope. Randolph was recognized for her volunteer work with the English as a Second Language program at the Winnetka Learning Center, at the NEAR food shelf, and her fundraising for a program at Meadow Lake Elementary School which provides children with weekend snack packs to prevent hunger. Both Paj Lor and Joel Vodis are students at Cooper High School who volunteer for a number of service projects that benefit other students. Randolph, Lor and Vodis are the first recipients of the award, which was established in September 2011. Anyone who volunteers in New Hope is eligible to receive a New Hope Good Citizenship Award. For more details about the program or a nomination form visit the city’s website at www.ci.new-hope.mn.us or call the city clerk at 763-531-5136.

Emergency Foodshelf Network receives Outstanding Business Award

EFN Outstanding Business Award

The New Hope City Council recently selected Emergency Foodshelf Network to receive the Fall 2011 New Hope Outstanding Business Award. Emergency Foodshelf Network (EFN) was founded in 1976 to support 12 Hennepin County foodshelves. Today, EFN is a full service food bank that provides quality, nutritious food and support services to over 230 hunger relief programs including foodshelves, on-site meal programs, and Fare For All sites throughout the state.

EFN has been based at 8501 54th Avenue North in New Hope since 2004. The food bank provides over $7 million in support and services to its member agencies each year. With a modest staff of 32 full and part-time employees and more than 13,000 volunteers (in 2010), EFN puts 92 cents of every dollar donated directly into programs serving hungry families.

In addition to the fine work it does helping local families in need through PRISM, NEAR and other agencies, the City Council also lauded Emergency Foodshelf Network for providing space in front of its building for the Hope Grows Community Garden. By providing a location for the garden plots, EFN was instrumental in helping the new community garden get started in 2011. The City Council presented a representative from Emergency Foodshelf Network with a plaque at its meeting on November 28. EFN was nominated for the award by Thomas Mercier, president of Hope Grows. The New Hope Outstanding Business Award is a quarterly award to recognize the contributions of New Hope businesses to the community and to encourage other businesses to rise to the excellence achieved by award recipients.

Mayor's Prayer Breakfast focused on children

all_district_choir

About 300 people attended the 20th Annual New Hope Community Mayor's Prayer Breakfast on Friday, October 28 at the New Hope Community Gyms. The theme of this year's event was "New Hope for Our Children." The event featured a dozen local spiritual leaders from a wide variety of faiths and musical performances by Cooper High School Chamber Strings, Armstrong High School Chamber Singers, and thie All District Choir. Browse the Prayer Breakfast program or click on the photo (at right) to view a slideshow of the event.

 

Winter hazard awareness tips from the MN Dept. of Public Safety

When the temperature drops below zero and heavy snows fall, winter weather in Minnesota can be quite hazardous. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety has a variety of information on its website to help you understand and deal with winter weather hazards. (for more information about each topic below, click on the blue headlines. You will be leaving the city of New Hope's website)

2010 Water Quality Report

The Minnesota Department of Health require water suppliers, including the city of New Hope, to prepare an annual water quality report (also known as a consumer confidence report) for their customers. The reports tell where drinking water comes from, what's in it, and how you can help protect it. Click on the link below to read the 2010 Water Quality Report for the Joint Water Commission, which includes the city of New Hope.

2010 Water Quality Report Adobe Acrobat Reader

2010 City of New Hope Year in Review

The Year in Review highlights some of the more significant activities the city of New Hope engaged in during 2010 and touches on some of the things the city is looking forward to in 2011. Click the link below to read the online publication.

http://issuu.com/newhoperecreation/docs/year_in_review-2010