Street Improvement District Advances to Senate Committee on Monday

City officials are encouraged to contact legislators and ask for their support of a League initiative that would allow cities to create street improvement districts.
(Published Mar 14, 2013)

A League initiative, SF 607, (Sen. Jim Carlson, DFL-Eagan) that would allow cities to create street improvement districts, will be heard in the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Monday, March 18.

The House companion bill (HF 745) (Rep. Ron Erhardt, DFL-Edina) met the first committee deadline in the House, after being heard by all relevant policy committees before the end of business on Friday, March 15. The bill was heard in the House Government Operations Committee on Tuesday and by the Transportation Policy Committee on Wednesday evening. Mark Maloney, Public Works Director in Shoreview, and Betsy Stolfa, Councilmember in Delano, testified in support of the bill in the Transportation Policy Committee hearing.

This bill would allow cities to collect fees from property owners within a district to fund municipal street maintenance, construction, reconstruction, and facility upgrades. If enacted, this legislation would provide cities with an additional tool to build and maintain city streets. Both bills have a mix of Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) co-authors.

The street improvement district initiative has been a high legislative priority for the League in recent years, and it may have renewed momentum in 2013 due to its endorsement by the Governor’s Transportation Finance Advisory Committee and the growing likelihood of passage of a meaningful transportation funding package this year.

We need your help
Local officials' contact with legislators on the key committees in the House were referenced by legislators and key to the bill moving forward. The League continues to encourage city officials to ask their legislators to support this initiative as it moves through the committee process. This is especially important for cities that have Senators who serve on the Senate State and Local Government Committee. League policies LE-6 and LE-30 (pages 46 and 62 in 2013 City Policies) reference the League's support for this tool.

In advocating for this tool, the League is stressing the following points:

  • This is enabling legislation. No city would be required to create a municipal street improvement district.
  • The street improvement district authority legislation is modeled after Minn. Stat. 435.44, which allows cities to establish sidewalk improvement districts.
  • This authority would provide a funding mechanism that is fair. It establishes a clear relationship between who pays fees and where projects occur, but stops short of the benefit test that sometimes makes special assessments vulnerable to legal challenges. *It also does not prohibit cities from collecting fees from tax exempt properties within a district.
  • This tool allows cities to perform maintenance and reconstruction on schedule. Timely maintenance is essential to preserving streets and thereby protecting taxpayer investments.
  • This tool would allow property owners to fund expensive projects by paying relatively small fees over time. The tool could be used to mitigate or eliminate the need for special assessments.

Access additional background information and talking points.
Access contact information for your legislators.

Questions? Contact Anne Finn at afinn@lmc.org or at (651) 281-1263.

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