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• f • CHAPTER 26 The advantages of special assessment financing include the following: • Special assessments have been a dependable source of revenue. • Special assessments are a means of raising money outside city debt and general property taxes. (Special assessment bonds do not count toward statutory debt limitations.) • Special assessments provide a means of levying charges for public services against property otherwise exempt from taxation. • Special assessments lower the cost to the community of bringing undeveloped land into urban use, and of increasing the usefulness of urban land. • Perhaps the chief value of special assessments is that by charging the property owner for the benefit received, they prevent or minimize the possibility that a property owner will reap a financial profit from the improvement at the expense of the general taxpayer. The disadvantages of special assessment include the following: • The difficulty in establishing the special benefit to the property. 1110 • The difficulties in special assessment administration. In addition to the subjective difficulty of relating assessment charges to special benefits, the administrative procedures require careful execution in order to avoid court litigation. While assessment determinations necessarily involve judgment,many communities have instituted procedures making this determination as objective as possible. • Cities have frequently used special assessments to underwrite premature public improvements. Because the city generally bears some of the cost of every public improvement, land speculators sometimes urge councils to do unjustifiable special assessment programs. • The availability of special assessment financing often tempts city officials to underwrite the cost of governmental programs that should be an obligation of the entire city. • HANDBOOK FOR MINNESOTA CITIES 26-9 This chapter last revised 12/15/2004