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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7A - 1994 AMM Legislative Policies DATE: INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND: DISCUSSION: STAFF AGENDA REPORT .....---) ~~ANK BOYLES, CITY MANAGE~l.1j) REVIEW OF PROPOSED ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPALITIES (AMM) 1994 LEGISLATIVE POLICIES NOVEMBER 1,1993 One of the primary functions of the Association of Municipalities (AMM) is to "lobby" on behalf of its member cities. Most cities in the seven county metropolitan area are AMM members. In order to effectively lobby on the many issues addressed by the State Legislature. the AMM has created five subcommittees. Through the subcommittees, policies are developed which act as guides to the AMM staff members during its lobbying efforts. The purpose of this agenda item is to review with the City Council the proposed 1994 AMM legislative policies. If there are significant City Council concerns with a proposed policy, we can convey these concerns to the AMM membership at the November 4 annual meeting. The City Council has previously received a bulletin from the AMM containing all of the proposed 1994 AMM legislative policies. Also attached, courtesy of Council member White, is a September 17, 1993 memorandum which highlights the proposed changes between the 1993 and 1994 AMM Legislative Policies. At the November 1 meeting, I will briefly review the following proposed policies to receive City Council input: 1 . Page 4 - 2. Page 14- 3. Page 17/18 - 4. Page 32- 5. Page 58- 6. Page 60 - 7. Page 76- non-governmental tax exempt property. open meeting/data practices. concurrent detachment/annexation. Tax increment financing. Transportation utility charges. Local speed limits. Selection of Metropolitan Council Metropolitan Agency members. Re-energizing the Metropolitan Council. 8. Page 77/78- RECOMMENDATION: If Councilmembers believe that other policies should be discussed please let me know prior to the meeting so that a transparency can be prepared. If you have other observations with respect to the Policies, it would be appropriate to express those concerns on November 1. As a final action I would like the Council to establish its top five policy priorities. This will help the AMM staff to determine where they should spend their time and resources. FBAG7AWRT -1- 4629 Dakota 51. 5.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372 / Ph. (612) 447-4230 / Fax (612) 447-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER september 17, 1993 TO: Board of Directors FROM: Staff SUBJECT: Proposed policy - Changes From 1993 I. Revenue Policy Description A-1 Levy Limits. No change. A-2 Oppose Valuation or operation Freezes. New policy opposing valuation freeze or payroll freeze as proposed by the Administration in 1993. I-B Mandated State~nd Federal Programs. No change. I-C Local Government Aid preamble. No change. C-1 Aid Formula Criteria. Same as 1993, except reference to the LMC formula at the start and the policy on what to do until a new formula is adopted eliminated. C-2 Local Government Aid Formula. A new position supporting the original LMC 1993 position or the current formula through 1995. Modifications beneficial to the metro area will be supported. C-3 LGA Growth. New policy number but a restatement from past policy supporting LGA growth from sales tax at the rate of LGTF growth. D-1 General Class Rate Changes. Replaces the Homestead Class rate position which has been accomplished with policy from D-4 stating opposition to class rate changes that would shift tax burden to other property. D-2 Non Governmental Tax Exempt Property. Minor word changes but does eliminate city mention of county services to tax exempt property. -1- D-3 Government Tax Exempt Property. Adds counties to state, regional, and other cities as governments that should pay a fee for service to the host city on tax exempt property. 0-4 Property Tax Reform. Same except class rate clause moved to 0-1. E-1 Fiscal Note Continuation. No change. E-2 Funding Shifts. Policy unchanged but the preamble background updated with current year statistics on metro vs outstate tax collected vs aids paid. E-3 State Revenue Stability. Rewritten to provide support for a revenue fund or reserve for unexpected state revenues shortfall, cash flow funds for expected state budget dips below zero, and an across the board unallotment process for severe problems similar to that adopted in 1993. E-4 City Fund Balances. No change. I-F Sales Tax Dedication Guarantee. Rewritten. Continues to support sales tax to LGTF and a guaranteed deduction if necessary but eliminates reference to 2 cents leaving open the option to possibly change the LGTF to a city only fund at some point. I-G Homestead and Agricultural Credit Aid (HACA). This is basically a new policy in four parts which lifts some same wording from previous rewritten policy. It supports continuation of HACA, restoration of the HACA growth factor, opposition to conversion of city HACA to school aid, and supports buydown of future class rate changes with HACA. I-H State Imposed Fee for Service. New policy which does not oppose state fees for services but does oppose implementing them in a way that leads people to blame local officials for the fee increase or imposition. It opposes fees not spread evenly on all people impacted or transfer of excess revenue to the general fund that was raised for a specific expenditure. I-I Fiscal Disparity Fund Distribution. New pOlicy converted from a 1993 board policy stating AMM opposition to using a portion of the F.D. pot to fund state programs for social or other purposes. -2- II General Legislation Policy Description II-A Oppose Reduction of Authority of Local Control. No change. II-B Tort Liability. No change. C-1 Open Meetings and Data Practices. Rewritten based on LMC policy to support clarification of the conflicts between open meeting and data privacy as per previous AMM policy, supporting closed meetings for initial job applicant screening until a finalist list is created, and support allowing cities to pay legal expenses for officials as per current law dealing with criminal charges brought due to official action. C-2 Liquor License Application. No change. C-3 General Public Data. No change. 11-0 police and Fire Pension Provisions. No change. II-E Contractors Performance Bonds. No change. II-F Concurrent Detachment and annexation. No change, although the committee did recommend as an endorsement policy, VI-H, support of the LMC position on annexation. II-G 911 Telephone Tax. Minor language change. II-H Markets for Recycled Material. New policy urging the legislature to use incentives for creation of recycled product processing and manufacturing of itself create or identify markets. The committee eliminated policies dealing with MTC security Officers Liability and Cooperation/Consolidation. Both issues have been resolved. III Housing and Economic Development Policies A-I Examine Local Requirements That Affect Housing Costs. No major change in philosophy but strengthened wording to make clear that cities should self-police to detect any exclusionary local requirements. -3- A-2 Practices by Other Levels ot Government Which Affect Housing Costs. No significant changes but modified title and wording to clarify that this policy speaks to levels of government other than cities. A-3 Mandatory Land Uses Standards. No change. A-4 State Housing policy. One minor change to recognize that the State Housing Finance Agency has funding to help provide decent affordable housing. A-5 Local Housing POlicy. Minor revisions to reflect the legislative change that removed the LGA/HACA penalty for TIF Housing Districts. A-6 Metropolitan Housing Policy. Clarified wording to spell out that general obligation bonds backed by a regional property tax were not acceptable to fund a regional housing fund. A-7 Neighborhood Liveability. No change. A-8 State And Or County Licensed Residential Facilities (Group Homes). No change. A-9 Licensed Residential Facilities (Group Homes) Inspections. No change. B-1. cities Re-Development and Economic Development Responsibilities. No major change. Wording clarified and outdated language deleted. Eliminates references to previous state and federal legislative proposals. B-2 Equal Treatment of cities. No philosophical change. Wording changed to improve readability. B-3. Tax Increment Financing. Changed focus from trying to restore TIF totally to pre 1990 to more selective improvements. Also tries to "level the playing field" for inner-ring older areas where redevelopment costs are high. B-4 Property Tax/Value Abatement Authority. This is a new policy for the AMM that would provide another tool for cities to promote economic development, redevelopment, and housing. A bill was introduced in the 1993 legislative Session sponsored by the Association of Minnesota Counties that would have eliminated TIF and replaced it with a tax abatement -4- authority. This policy is an additional tool. B-5. Local Option for Development Organization structures. No change. B-6. County Economic Development Authorities (EDAs). No change. B-7. Development of Polluted Lands. Modified to more directly call for new financing methods to fund cleanup of polluted lands. Also opposes a portion of the law passed last session that requires usage of a city's general fund for cleanup to be eligible for contamination grants and TIF authority. B-8 Building Permit Fee surcharge. No change. III-C Land Use Planning. No substantial change. Extraneous wording deleted to make more understandable. IV Metropolitan Agencies Policies IV-A Purpose of Metropolitan Governmental Agencies. No change. IV-B criteria for Extension of Metropolitan Agencies authorities. No change. C-1 policy Planning - Policy Implementation. No change. C-2 Funding for Regionally provided Services. No change. C-3 Regional Tax Rates and User Fees. No change. IV-D Comprehensive Planning - Local or Regional Interaction. No change. IV-E Combined Sewers - Separation. No change except minor wording change for clarification. Fl Budget Detail and specificity. No change. F2 Reliance on Property Tax. No change. F3 Program Evaluation. No change. B-1,2 Metropolitan Park and Open Space Funding. No change. -5- H-l Water Supply. This policy was completely rewritten to reflect that a water supply bill, supported by the AMM, was passed in the 1993 legislative session. The revised policy is what staff calls a "maintenance" policy. We see no need for change but if changes are proposed they must meet certain criteria. H-2 Surface and Ground Water Management. This policy was extensively revised and now recommends that an assessment or study is needed to determine the appropriateness of the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) continuing as the approval and oversight agency for metro area Surface Water Management Planning. It also calls for a thorough assessment of the approval and permitting process for surface water management planning to eliminate duplication and overlap. H-3 Regional Wastewater (Sewer) Treatment System. No substantial change. Minor wording change to delete obsolete wording and make current. H-4 Water Testing Connection Fee. No change. IV-I Waste Stream Management. This comprehensive policy was revised extensively. Several sections/parts were eliminated to reflect changes made to the Waste Management Act in the last two sessions which implemented portions of existing AMM policy. One provision was added in 1-7 to support the need for separate funding to cleanup closed landfills which are causing pollution problems. A portion of Policy 1-1 was amended to encourage incentives instead of state regulations to enhance use of recycled products and to promote reuse and recycling of packaging products. Policy 1-2 (B) was amended to include criminal liability for persons knowingly disposing of hazardous materials improperly. V Transportation policy Description. Transportation Policy Statement. Minor word change to 4. V-A Street, Bridge, and Highway General Funding. The word Bridge was added to the policy to emphasis that bridges are included and do need funds. V-B Metropolitan Transit System Funding. No change. V-C Transportation Service Fund. No change. -6- ~ V-D Transportation Funding Alternative. Two policy statements were added. One to support a 6.5 cents sales tax on gasoline at the pump for Highway and Transit funding. The other suggests state bonding to construct transportation infrastructure. V-E Highway and Transit Implementation Funding. No change. V-F Highway Jurisdictional Reassignment, Turnbacks, and Funding. Minor word change. V-G Transportation utility. No change. V-H Transportation Planning Process. Role of Elected Officials. No change. V-I Preservation of Railroad Right Of Way. No change. V-J City speed Limits. No change. V-K Transportation Incentives/Disincentives. No change. V-L Regional Transit System. No change. V-M MSA screening Committee. No change. V-N Metropolitan Transportation Tax. Redraft policy combines the previous NI and N2 criteria and principles for enacting a special metropolitan tax into the preamble for the policy statement which is expanded to clarify uses for a specific metro transportation tax. V-o Airport Policy. No change. v-p Bikeway Grants. No change. V-Q optout. No change. V-R MSAS Funding for Combined City street Departments. New policy supporting cOmbining street construction and maintenance functions of two or more small cities to be able to qualify for Municipal state Aid Streets funding by exceeding a combined population of 5000. VI Endorsement Policy - Description VI-A Taxation Hearing And Notification Law. This policy was completely rewritten but maintained most of the -7- previous issues. Added was a plea for one official public hearing and then budget adoption at a later regular meeting. VI-B state Administrative Costs. No change. VI-C Referendum Levies. Minor wording changes. VI-D comparable Worth. Minor wording changes. VI-E Liquor Issues. The policy was rewritten to add reference to repeal of the public hearing requirement in case of revenue losses. VI-F PELRA. No change. VI-G Annexation. New endorsement policy supporting the LMC position on facilitating the annexation process if growth continues in the township near city borders and requesting authority to extend zoning control beyond the border. VI-H Economic Development Authorities. This was an endorsement policy last year but has been expanded to oppose the granting of EDA authority to counties and townships. Main policy supports legislation to provide EDAs the same power as has been given to port authorities. VI-I Wetlands Conservation. New endorsement policy supporting the LMC position requesting removal of $75 charge limitation by local governments on replacement plan reviews and support of a detailed view of the cost/benefits of expanding protected wetlands to type 1,2, and 6. Also, support for indemnification of local units in taking claims and amending the oversight process to make it more understandable, and finally to make the wetland replacement ratio equal between urban and non-urban land at a 1:1 ratio. VI-J MSA Mileage Limit. No change. VI-K Highway Definition. New endorsement policy supporting the LMC position that if sales tax on gasoline is found to be unconstitutional, then the LMC supports amending the statutory definition of road or highway to include other transportation needs within transportation corridors and a corresponding increase in the traditional gas tax to meet these expanding needs. -8- VIII Metropolitan Governance Policy Description VII-A Legislative Reorganization of Metropolitan Governance. This policy was rewritten and reordered to make it clear that the portion of the policy which calls for direct election of Metropolitan Councilmembers is not the most significant part of this total policy. The proposal to create a new land use commission was also dropped because "it" kept getting in the way during discussions of the AMM bill in the last session. It is probably a good idea but it appears to add more bureaucracy. Other less significant changes were also made to policy. Direct election of Metropolitan Council members under controlled conditions was retained. VII-B Re-Energizing the Metropolitan Council. Editorial changes only. -9- SUMMARY OF PROPOSED GRANT APPUCATION TO THE BOARD OF GOVERNMENT INNOVATION AND COOPERATION RE PRIOR LAKE ATHLETICS FOR YOUTH The City of Prior Lake has the opportunity to work cooperatively with the Prior Lake/Savage Area School District and PLAY to address the youth athletic program in Prior Lake. Currently, youth athletics are coordinated soley through a non-profit, volunteer organization called PLAY. PLAY is a organization directed by an eleven member board of directors. The Board provides the overall policy under which four major athletic programs are provided. Participation currently is 1600 children representing almost 1000 families. Despite the board participation and numerous adults associated with the program, the PLAY Board still struggles with providing adequate parental support for the youth athletic programming. The PLAY organization is funded primarily through registration fees with minor donations from other non-profit organizations ie. Lions Club, Optimist Club. Donations make up less than one half of one percent of the budget. Contributions from the City and School District are in the form of providing facilities and facility maintenance. The City Park and Recreation staff does assist with the scheduling of fields and other minimal administrative responsibilities. The PLAY organization has been challenged in keeping adequate parental volunteers in order to provide coaching and coordinators for the many youth programs. Although some may believe the solution to be simple, by hiring an administrative staff person or turning the solution over to the city, the PLAY organization along with the City and School District believe the solution is much more complicated. The solution lies in the parents. Very simply the youth athletics program in Prior Lake will only succeed if parents become involved and take responsibility for more of the PLAY programming. This grant application is being submitted jointly by the PLAY organization, The City of Prior Lake and the Prior Lake/Savage Area School District to establish a process for motivating, training and retaining parental volunteers in order to give the youth athletics program in Prior Lake the ownership that it needs to survive. Youth athletics are an important component of youth development. The PLAY group has done an admirable job of providing youth athletic opportunities to Prior Lake area youth. In order to continue in the rapid developing environment that Prior Lake is experiencing, the PLAY organization is going to need continued cooperation from the City and the School District and greater cooperation from parents. The funds requested would be used to hire a consultant to develop a model training/retaining program intended to bring parents into the PLAY organization. The consultant would facilitate a community task force made up of City, School, and PLAY representatives. The goal of the task force would be to create a training program that would identify what PLAY needs from parents in order to make the PLAY program work. The training program would further identify what roles parents take, as coaches, equipment coordinators, financial advisors, spectators, and most importantly sportsmanship role models. PIA Y.WRT SUMMARY OF PROPOSED GRANT APPUCATION TO THE BOARD OF GOVERNMENT INNOVATION AND COOPERATION RE YOUTII COMMUNITY CENTER Members of the Prior Lake community have discussed for many years the need to create a center for youth to provide a structured environment in which youth can spend time after school. The City along with the Prior Lake! Savage Area School District and the Optimist club have acknowledged this idea but have spend little time trying to put the project together. Part of the reason for the lack of a plan is because there are so many parties involved and because of the expense. The youth community center concept has not been a high priority and no funds have been set aside for the preparation of plans. Recently, the Optimist Club has indicated an interest in leading a study committee to explore the options for creating a safe environment for youth. In Prior Lake youth have few options for after school activities outside of athletics and scholastic programs. Although participation in these programs is encouraged, there are youth who cannot or choose not to participate. For these youth the after school activity, if not structured can become destructive. Although School officials understand the problem, they are not able to provide different structured activities for each individual, nor do they have the space to create a structured youth environment or center. The city is aware of the issue and supports the concept of creating a youth environment center, but has little expertise in the administration of a youth community center. The Optimists Club, with the assistance of the Youth Advisory Council would like to investigate options for providing an alternative place for youth. The nature of the concept is that the Youth Community Center would be a safe haven for youth approximately, 13-18 to spend time outside of the school day. The center would provide some entertainment opportunities ie. pool tables, TV etc, and possibily a snack bar with limited items. The concept is not dissimilar to a student union center at a college, just a more controlled environment. The center obviously would require adult supervision, however the majority of management would fall upon a youth board, who would supervise the business affairs, and address issues of concern. The request for grant funding is to pursue this idea of creating a youth community center. Under the direct supervision of the Optimist Club and with the particiaption of the City and the School District and the Student Advisory Council, the request for funding is to provide grant dollors to hire an faciliator to bring all the interested parties together to create appropriate facility that will address the needs of the youth. The facilitator would work directly for the Optimist Club, coordinating the issues and ideas of a group of persons representing all interested parties. The goal of the work would be to create a model center, that addresses the needs of the youth and is saleable to the community. The model must address fmancial concerns and be structed so as to win the support of the community. YOIITH. WKr