2017 Legislative Policy; MornsonCity of Hopkins 2017 Legislative Policy - 1
2017 Legislative Policy
Funding for SWLRT:
The City of Hopkins supports transit funding for the Southwest Light Rail and the financial
match needed to ensure the line is built.
The City of Hopkins supports the implementation of funding for transit improvement areas
and urges the Legislature to authorize various funding mechanisms for transit improvement
areas including; tax increment financing, tax abatement, bonding, and general fund
appropriations for a revolving loan program or grant program.
In addition, the City of Hopkins supports funding for improvements necessary to the 3
transit stations as well as assistance for job loss and tax base for the operation and
maintenance facility being located in Hopkins.
Bonding Bill for Inflow and Infiltration:
Assist local communities in funding repairs and upgrades to local sewer infrastructure. The
City of Hopkins supports bonding for this purpose.
Local Control:
No restrictions on local government budgets such as levy limits and property tax freezes.
Redevelopment Funding from Bonding Bill or DEED:
The City of Hopkins is continuously dealing with cost for redevelopment efforts.
Redevelopment allows local communities to adjust to changing market conditions, better
utilize existing public infrastructure, and maintain a viable local tax base. However, due to
the high up-front costs of redevelopment, as compared to Greenfield development,
desirable redevelopment projects often require public assistance.
City of Hopkins 2017 Legislative Policy - 2
It should be the goal of the State Legislature to champion development and redevelopment
throughout the state by providing enough sustainable funding to assure that the state
remains competitive in a global marketplace. The City of Hopkins supports increased
funding and flexibility in the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities Programs. It
strongly opposes funding reductions, transfers of Livable Communities Program funds to
other program areas and constrains on eligibility and Program requirements.
In addition, the City of Hopkins supports:
Increased, flexible and sustained Contamination Cleanup and Investigation Grant Program,
administered by DEED;
New financing and regulatory tools to nurture Transit Oriented Development, including
increased flexibility in the use of TIF for this purpose.
Increased and sustained general fund and state bond funds for the Redevelopment Grant
Program, administered by DEED, dedicated to Metropolitan Area projects;
The evaluation of SAC fees to determine if they hinder redevelopment;
Expansion of existing tools or development of new funding mechanisms to correct unstable
soils; and
State adoption of an income tax credit program to facilitate the preservation of historic
properties.
Revisit the laws on condominium development to see if they are a reason why condos are
not being developed. It is another type of housing that could add to our housing diversity.
TIF:
Tax increment Financing (TIF) has been and continues to be the primary tool available to
local communities for assisting economic development, redevelopment and housing. Over
time, several statutory changes have made this critical tool increasingly difficult to use, while
recently property tax reform has resulted in a decreased state financial stake in city TIF
decisions. At the same time that TIF has become more restrictive and difficult to use, federal
and state development and redevelopment resources have been steadily shrinking. The
2006 eminent domain changes will make redevelopment significantly more expensive in
some cases, and impossible in others. The cumulative impact of TIF restrictions shrinking
federal and state redevelopment resources, and changes to eminent domain laws will
restrict a city’s ability to address problem properties and will accelerate the decline of
developed cities in the Metropolitan Area. Without proper tools and resources to address
decline, cities will be unable to stop it. At a minimum, the state should authorize increased
flexibility in local TIF decisions.
City of Hopkins 2017 Legislative Policy - 3
The City of Hopkins urges the Legislature to:
Not adopt any statutory language that would further constrain or directly or indirectly
reduce the effectiveness of TIF;
Incorporate the Soils Correction District criteria into the Redevelopment District criteria so
that a Redevelopment District can be comprised of blighted and contaminated parcels in
addition to railroad property;
Expand the flexibility of TIF to support a broader range of redevelopment projects;
Increase the ability to pool increments from other districts to support projects;
Continue to monitor the impacts of tax reform on TIF districts and if warranted provide
cities with additional authority to pay for possible TIF shortfalls;
Allow for the creation of transit zones and transit related TIF districts to address
development and redevelopment issues associated with transit or transfer stations;
Shift TIF redevelopment policy away from a focus on “blight” and “substandard to
“functionally obsolete” or a focus on long range planning for a particular community,
reduction in greenhouse gases or other criteria’s more relevant current needs;
Encourage DEED to do an extensive cost-benefit analysis related to redevelopment,
including an analysis of the various funding mechanisms, and an analysis of where the cost
burden fall with each of the options compared to the distribution of the benefits of the
redevelopment project; and
Consider creating an inter-disciplinary TIF team to review local exception TIF proposals,
using established criteria, and make recommendations to the legislative on their passage.
For sites that do not meet the restrictive blight and contamination definitions of the 2006
changes to eminent domain law, the Legislature should explore creating incentives to
encourage owners whose properties meet the blight definitions under M.S., Chapter 469, to
voluntarily sell their land for redevelopment purposes. Incentives could include income tax
credits, capital gains deferrals or other incentives targeted at property owners.
The City of Hopkins encourages the State Auditor to continue to work toward a more
efficient and streamlined reporting process.
Housing and Commercial:
The legislature should also re-enact a program similar to “This Old House” which would
allow qualifying owners of single family homes, multi-unit rental properties, and
commercial buildings to defer the increase in tax capacity from repairs or improvements.
This would allow greater flexibility in targeting commercial development and
redevelopment as well as act as incentive for cities to maintain housing stock.
City of Hopkins 2017 Legislative Policy - 4
Elections:
Election Judge Recruitment and Retention: This policy was recommended by the League’s
Election Task Force. It seeks changes to the state statute that would expand opportunities
to serve as an election judge. The policy supports: a) eliminating the party balance
requirement of appointed clerks and hired staff administering absentee balloting prior to
Election Day and for city special elections; b) eliminating the party balance requirement for
elections where only nonpartisan offices and/or ballot questions are on the ballot; and c)
excusing college students appointed to serve as election judges from classes when they are
serving