CC MINUTES 07091996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes • July 9, 1996 Page 3 1 A. Legislative Update. 2 Senator John Marty and Representative Mary Jo McGuire were present to give a 3 legislative update. .4 Representative McGuire stated it was good to hear from Mr. Kaczor and receive input 5 from the people directly involved. She reported a bill was passed this session which 6 included plans for a North/South runway. There are noise abatement dollars available to 7 mitigate some of the noise. There are also new engines available which are less noisy. 8 She stated she would pass Mr. Kaczor's comments on. 9 Representative McGuire reported she had served on the Judiciary Committee of the 10 Judiciary Finance Division working for crime prevention. She also chaired the Data 11 Privacy Committee. 12 Representative McGuire stated she was disappointed to report that the legislature had 13 been unable to pass much in the area of property tax reform but she is anxious to continue 14 working in that area. 5 Senator John Marty stated he has growing concerns with the difficulty of addressing property tax reform. It is difficult to reach a consensus due to the fights between different. 7 geographic areas and different types of property. Part of the concern is what items 18 property taxes are used to pay for. They are not used primarily to pay for local issues. 19 Senator Marty noted some of the issues in the upcoming session will include the use of 20 local government aid and the building of a new stadium. He noted the School Districts 21 are facing a reduction in funds next year and he felt some of these upcoming issues need 22 to be prioritized. He thanked the City Council and Staff for keeping in touch with 23 himself and.Representative McGuire. 24 Councilmember Faust stated that as a Councilmember, tax payer, and assessor, he felt a 25 tax freeze was not the solution. The solution was tax reform. He asked if the suggestions 26 of Ann Rest were being supported by the Legislature. 27 Senator Marty stated he liked the Ann Rest proposal the best. It will remove education 28 funding from property taxes and derive other ways of calculating how local aid will be 29 distributed. Her plan is not ideal but is better than most of the others he has seen. 30 Representative McGuire commented that a tax freeze is not fair to local governments. 31 Unless there are good discussions on tax reform, she felt certain the tax freeze option 32 would resurface. The Legislature really needs to look at what is being paid for with each 0 - tax. 34 Wagner asked if there had been discussion in regard to TIF funds.