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• <br />• <br />Development Tools <br />This portion of the chapter presents items that serve as a focus for city actions. These actions <br />seek to achieve the vision for the future of Lino Lakes in areas where market forces alone will not <br />be sufficient. State law provides a broad array of powers and tools that may assist the city in <br />these initiatives. The following section provides a brief discussion of the tools currently available <br />to the city. <br />Overview of Statutory Authority <br />Every statutory power contains a unique set of authorizations and restrictions. Understanding <br />these provisions is a key to effective use. In some cases, the city may have several options. For <br />example, public improvements can be financed with special assessments, special service districts, <br />housing improvement areas, tax abatement, and tax increment financing. To evaluate the use of <br />potential statutory powers, the city should find the answers to the following questions. <br />Who can use the powers? Most municipal powers are granted directly to the city. In these <br />cases, the city council can act without the involvement of any other body. Some development <br />powers reside solely with another entity, such as the housing and redevelopment authority and <br />the economic development authority. <br />How do the powers function? Every municipal development power carries certain <br />requirements and implications for its use. For example, tax increment financing involves a <br />complex set of statutory requirements. Property owners must petition to start the process for <br />establishing a special service district. Tax abatement discussions should involve the county. <br />These are just some of the important issues that shape decisions on finding and using the right <br />tools to implement the plan. <br />Does the power provide funding capacity? Many statutes provide access to revenues and <br />debt that can be used to finance implementation initiatives. Several questions can help guide the <br />evaluation of the funding capacity in a given statute: <br />• What revenues are authorized? <br />• How can the revenues be used? <br />• Can the city issue the bonds as "general obligations," achieving the lowest interest rates? <br />• Do the bonds count against the city's debt limit? <br />• What approvals are needed to authorize use of these powers? <br />Some key sources of statutory authority come from the following: <br />• Constructing public improvements and levying special assessments — Chapter 429 <br />• Constructing, operating, and maintaining water, sanitary sewer and storm water utility <br />systems — Section 444.075 <br />• Creating and using special service districts — Sections 428A.01 through 428A.101 <br />• Creating and using housing improvement areas — Section 428A.11 <br />• Establishing and using tax increment financing districts — Sections 469.174 through <br />469.1791 <br />• Making and using tax abatement levies — Sections 469.1812 through 469.1815 <br />• Powers granted to cities through housing and redevelopment authorities — Sections <br />469.001 through 469.047 <br />• Powers granted to cities through economic development authorities — Sections 469.090 <br />through 469.1081 <br />• Lease financing for real and personal property — Section 465.71 <br />5 -21 <br />