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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 6 2 Mayor Faust stated his preference to take it one step farther and list pay ranges and dollars 3 instead of just listing the number of jobs in each of those ranges. He noted the City already has 4 the policy of pay-as-you-go so he is glad that it will be written into the policy. He also supports 5 the reference to fiscal disparities staying within the TIF district because the Council has made a 6 basic commitment to the public to assure it is a self-sustaining operation. Mayor Faust stated he 7 also noticed the "but for" reference on page 4 and suggested the "but for" language be amplified 8 as it is indicated in the purpose section of State Statute. He explained he is making that 9 suggestion for amplified language because future Councils may not understand that total 10 concept. 11 12 Councilmember Gray asked if there has not been a previous policy. Mr. Mornson stated that is 13 correct and he has found that many other cities also do not have a TIF policy because of the 14 restrictions in the Statutes. Mr. Mornson noted this is a general policy and will assure all are 15 treated the same. In addition, the City gets a lot of "fly-by-night" developers that end up wasting 16 staff s time to determine if they can get TIF. 17 18 Councilmember Thuesen asked if this policy is more internal or if there is pressure from the 19 State to keep cities accountable. Mr. Mornson explained that the Mayor attended a TIF seminar 20 where one of the Ehlers & Associate speakers said if the City does not have a TIF policy, it 21 should. 22 23 Mayor Faust pointed out that this policy lays out all the issues so everyone knows they are being 24 treated the same and it will free staff time in not having to answer these questions. 25 26 Councilmember Thuesen stated he hopes it will also result in the more serious developers 27 proceeding. 28 29 Councilmember Stille stated that TIF is something the City does not want to hand out to 30 everyone and asked if findings are needed should the Council desire to deny an application. Mr. 31 Mornson stated it is his opinion that the City has a lot of flexibility if they want to approve or 32 deny the application. He noted that before a TIF application is submitted to the Council, staff 33 and financial consultants will eliminate many of the applications. So, by the time it gets to the 34 Council, it has staffs "blessing." 35 36 Councilmember Stille stated he wants to assure the Council has the flexibility needed to approve 37 the projects they determine are the best for the City. Mr. Mornson stated the Council does have 38 that flexibility with this TIF policy. Mayor Faust suggested staff obtain a legal opinion on that 39 issue which can be included in the TIF policy. 40 41 Mayor Faust noted this TIF policy is patterned after the Silver Lake Village project, which is one 42 of the better development agreements that the City has used. Mr. Mornson stated that is correct 43 and advised that other cities are calling to learn how St. Anthony structured such a good deal to 44 assure the project was completed and TIF use. He explained that the development agreement is a 45 key component to spell out those issues. 46