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The Mounds View Vision <br />A Thriving Desirable Community <br /> <br />Item No: 08E <br />Meeting Date: March 25, 2019 <br />Type of Business: Council Business <br />City Administrator Review: _____ <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Nyle Zikmund, City Administrator <br />Item Title/Subject: Resolution 9092, Support of Legislation HF1095/SF1271 and <br />HF2194/SF2087 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Introduction: <br />Every year our Legislature debates public policy issues with some of them having <br />substantive impact. To date, over 2,300 bills have been introduced which is a new all- <br />time record breaking last year’s all-time record. Of these, there are two in particular <br />(less than 1/10 of 1%) that impacts the City of Mounds View in substantive ways. House <br />File 1095 (Elkins, DFL)/Senate File 1271 (Senjem, IR) and House File 2194 <br />(Elkins)/Senate File 2087 (Anderson, IR). <br /> <br /> <br />Discussion: <br />HF1095/SF1271 allows municipalities to create Street Improvement Districts that <br />provide another tool for cities to use in maintaining their infrastructure. Existing funding <br />mechanisms for street maintenance and reconstruction are inadequate. Specific <br />provisions/advantages of the legislation include; <br />- Special assessments can be onerous to property owners and are difficult to <br />implement for some cities. <br />- Municipal state aid (MSA) is limited to cities over 5,000 population--148 of 853 cities <br />in Minnesota--and cannot be applied to more than 20% of a MSA city’s lane miles. <br />Existing MSA is not keeping up with needs on the MSA system. <br />- This is enabling legislation. No city would be required to create a municipal street <br />improvement district. <br />- This authority would provide a funding mechanism that is fair. It establishes a clear <br />relationship between who pays fees and where projects occur, but stops short of the <br />benefit test that sometimes makes special assessments vulnerable to legal <br />challenges. It also does not prohibit cities from collecting fees from tax exempt <br />properties within a district. <br />- This tool allows cities to perform maintenance and reconstruction on schedule. <br />Timely maintenance is essential to preserving streets and thereby protecting <br />taxpayer investments. <br />- This tool would allow property owners to fund expensive projects by paying relatively <br />small fees over time. The tool could be used to mitigate or eliminate the need for <br />special assessments. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />HF2194/SF2087 provides both Hennepin and Ramsey County to capture the sales