01-08-2025 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MR-3 RESTRICTIONS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUDGETS Metro Cities supports a balanced and diversified revenue system that acknowledges diverse city characteristics, needs and capacities and allows for greater stability in revenues. Metro Cities supports the ability of a city to impose a local sales tax for public improvements and capital replacement costs, including but not limited to public libraries, parks and trails, community, convention and civic centers, transportation infrastructure, municipal buildings, and public safety facilities without the need for special legislation. Metro Cities supports changes to state laws governing local taxes to include the following: •A statutory clarification to allow a referendum to occur at any November election or special election. •A clarification of laws governing separate ballot questions for each proposed local project or allowing a city to combine projects into a single question, to avoid voter confusion. •A repeal of the prohibition on imposing a local sales tax for one year from the expiration of an existing local sales tax. •Changes to laws on the local sales tax process to allow a city flexibility to modify a ballot question to increase the amount of the collected tax and extend the duration of tax to cover unanticipated cost increases. The Legislature should recognize equity considerations involved with local sales taxes and continue to provide local government aid to cities that have high needs, overburdens and/or low fiscal capacity. Metro Cities supports a modification to laws governing local lodging taxes to allow cities to impose up to a five percent lodging tax, and the ability of cities to modify the uses of revenues to meet local needs. Metro Cities supports current laws providing for municipal franchise fee authority and opposes statutory changes such as reverse referendum requirements or other constraints that would reduce local flexibility for establishing, amending, or renewing franchise fees and interfere with local public processes and goals for establishing such fees. Metro Cities opposes levy limits, reverse referenda, super majority requirements for levy and valuation freezes, or other restrictions on local government budgeting and taxing processes. Such restrictions undermine local budgeting and taxing processes, planned growth, and the relationship between locally elected officials and their residents by allowing the state to decide the appropriate level of local taxation and services, despite varying local conditions and circumstances. MR-2 REVENUE DIVERSIFICATION AND ACCESS 3