01-08-2025 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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TP-5 HIGHWAY AND BRIDGE TURN BACKS & FUNDING TP-6 “3C” TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROCESS: ELECTED OFFICIALS’ ROLE Funding sources for local transportation projects are limited to the use of Municipal State Aid Street Program (MSAS), Transportation Advancement Account (TAA) distributions, property taxes and special assessments. With increasing pressures on city budgets and limited tools and resources, cities are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain aging streets. Street improvement districts allow cities in developed and developing areas to fund new construction as well as reconstruction and maintenance efforts. The street improvement district is designed to allow cities, through a fair and objective fee structure, to create a district or districts within the city in which fees are raised on properties in the district and spent within the boundaries of the district. Metro Cities supports the authority of local units of government to establish street improvement districts. Metro Cities also supports changes to special assessment laws to make assessing state-owned property a more predictable process with uniformity in the payment of assessments across the state. Cities do not have the financial capacity and in many cities the technical expertise other than through significant property tax increases, to absorb additional roadway or bridge infrastructure responsibilities without new funding sources. The existing municipal turnback fund is not adequate based on contemplated turn backs. Metro Cities supports jurisdictional reassignment or turnback of roads (Minn. Stat. § 161.16, subd. 4) on a phased basis using functional classifications and other appropriate criteria subject to a corresponding mechanism for adequate funding of roadway improvements and continued maintenance. Metro Cities does not support a wholesale turnback of county or state roads or bridges without the consent of the municipality and the total cost, agreed to by the municipality, being reimbursed to the city in a timely manner. The process for establishing state policies to assign a shared cost participation for newly constructed or rebuilt bridges over trunk highways to local officials, must include input by the local municipalities affected, and any assigned shared costs and responsibilities must be agreed to by the municipalities. The Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) was developed to meet federal requirements, designating the Metropolitan Council as the organization that is responsible for a continuous, TP-4 STREET IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS 33