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RELEVANT LINKS: League of Minnesota Cities Handbook for Minnesota Cities 8/1/2023 Community Development and Redevelopment Chapter 14 | Page 18 Minn. Stat. § 469.1771 subd. 7. Minnesota House Research Department, The But-For Test. The law imposes a 180-day statute of limitations on actions to challenge the creation or modification of a TIF district. The law is complex, including a “but-for” finding before a city approves a TIF plan and the creation of a TIF district. See Minn. Stat. §§ 469.174- 469.1799. Cities must follow statutory requirements, including but not limited to administrative expenses, plan modifications, reporting requirements, use of increment in pre-1979 districts, excess increments, pooling, decertification, and use of funds outside the district. Minn. Stat. § 469.175. Before a district can be created, the law requires a detailed estimate of the impact of a proposed district on city-provided services, such as police and fire protection, public infrastructure, and borrowing costs attributable to the district, in addition to other complex estimations that must be prepared. State v. Wicklund, 589 N.W.2d 793 (Minn. 1999). Public financing using TIF funding for a privately owned facility does not make public space in the facility a public forum for free speech purposes. Walser Auto Sales, Inc. v. City of Richfield, 635 N.W.2d 391 (Minn. Ct. App. 2001 aff’d, 644 N.W.2d 425 (Minn. 2002). Cities should use extreme care in establishing a TIF district and should follow all procedural requirements; otherwise, a court may find the district was not properly established. In one case, a TIF district was not properly established where minimal effort was made to ensure the thorough inspection of the properties; inaccurate methodology was used to establish the condition of the buildings; and the buildings found structurally substandard were not reasonably distributed throughout the district. Chenoweth v. City of New Brighton, 655 N.W.2d 821 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003). However, in another case involving a properly established TIF district, a warehouse was built next door to the plaintiff’s land, which substantially interfered with the use and enjoyment of that land. The court found that the private development of the adjacent property was not so entwined with government action as to constitute a state action. Therefore, the city’s actions — establishment of a TIF district, entering into a contract with a private developer specifying the size and value of structures to be built, and providing for substantial city assistance to facilitate development — do not rise to the level of a taking and, consequently, did not require reimbursement. Given the complexity of the laws governing the use of TIF, cities or HRAs should not undertake this method of financing community development projects without the advice of an attorney and professional consultants. F. Property tax abatement Minn. Stat. § 469.1813. A city may use this development tool to capture some or all the taxes it imposes on a parcel of property.