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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976 06-24 Council seeks fiscal disparities loopholes DISPATCH 76 Council seeks fiscal UPISPc4rc-t disparities loopholes By ROUBEN CHANCO metropolitan area is put in a Cities to clear up the weakness- Staff Writer "pool," and shared by all corn- es in the law, Members of the Maplewood munities. "But in the absence, we City Council want to know if Councilman Don Wiegert said -would be remiss if we don't see their city also can do what they Maplewood shares its little bit how we could save our taxpay- claim St. Paul and Minneapolis of of revenue from new devel- ers some money,' Bruton add- are doing — find loopholes in opment, but other cities are ed. the Fiscal Disparities Law. finding ways not to share new Right now, he said Maple- They directed the city staff revenue. wood is one of the "losing" cit- last week'to investigate the pos- Murdock said St. Paul,for ex- ies in fiscal disparities, sibilities of by-passing the state ample,is selling property to pri- "We put in more moves than law. vete entrepreneurs and putting „ we get out,"he said. Right now money in revenue bonds. ' i444 w e'r e getting "Is this exempt from fiscal Bruton said both St. Paul and screwed," disparities?" he asked. "I would Minneapolis have undertaken Councilman like the City of Maplewood to major development projects ex- Burt Murdock investigate doing this." empt from the law. He said :,, ,,,,, said S councildumne ee t- Mayorfr the council Robert Bruton saide dud through their cities, these to uyhousingand rede- land s ing. ing an interview that by-passing velopment authorities or the i U n d e r the fiscal disparities is "politics" port development authority with Fiscal Dispari- and, "I don't like that form of an arrangement beforehand with ties Law,40 per politics." a developer. '' cent of tax reve- lie said he would prefer to "They are developing their Bruton nue from new lobby through the Association cities, but they're not contribut- commercial or industrial devel- of Metropolitan Municipalities Council,Page 2 opment in the seven-county and the League of Minnesota g Coru re 1: Continued from Page 1 doesn't have to put 40 per cent of its new taxes into the metro ing to fiscal disparities. This is "pool." The developer gains, what gripes us,"Bruton said. and the city gains. But other- He said St. Paul and Minne- communities in the seven-coun- apolis can do.this because they ty metropolitan area would lose. are big enough to have a large For another example, Bruton staff with the time and knowl- said Maplewood might check on edge to find the loopholes. the same thing for an industrial "And we're paying for it development: The Minnehaha through fiscal disparities. We're Drive-In property, now zoned paying for their staff to do a bet- commercial, could be rezoned ter job next year. We have only industrial. The city could sc- one planner,"Bruton said. quire the land as an industrial "It might make sense if we park and have.the 3M Co. as a play the same game,"he added. customer, and see if it would be. As an example, Bruton said possible to work around the Fis- this is what Maplewood might cal Disparities Law this way. check into doing on a commer- Bruton said that when the city cial development: Take a devel- owns a piece of property, the oper who wants to build another question remains: "Are we run- Maplewood Mall. The city could ning government functions or tell the developer not to build are we running businessess?" the mall on his own. Instead, Bruton maintains that a busi- the developer would give the ness is a business, no matter city an idea of what he wants to who owns it, and it should not do. The city would buy the land be exempt from the law. needed, with no intention of That's why the Maplewood really owning the land. It then council wants to investigate the would lease the property hack to possibilities of by-passing the the developer on a long-term ba- law. sis, giving the developer an op- "We are being forced into this tion to buy. by inequities. We know other The city also could give the cities are doing it. We would developer a "break" in capital like to understand it more," he improvements, like streets, if it said.