The MCDA's Keith Ford provided the following answer to my nagging about
property tax reform and its dollar-impact on city finances. Keith said this
could be forwarded to the forum. - David Brauer, list manager.
Keith writes:
David, I and colleagues from Minneapolis and other cities have been working
at the Capitol trying to get the story out about the decimation of community
development programs. You probably saw today's opinion piece in the Strib
from Steve Cramer. That's part of our trying to get attention at the
Capitol.
In Minneapolis, we estimate we'll lose a little over one third of our TIF
revenue under the House tax bill. The removal of the general education levy
and the class rate compression combine to produce this effect. (It is not
possible to give an accurate number now because the effects on individual
tax parcels will differ and the rules for some TIF districts vary depending
on when they were created.) However, a one third cut in TIF revenue means we
can pay all of our debt obligations. But we cannot fund our ongoing
community development programs, like affordable housing, NRP, vacant and
boarded housing, neighborhood commercial revitalization, brownfields
clean-up, historic preservation, etc. We would have approximately $8 - 10
million per year available for these programs. As you know, NRP alone is a
$20 million program.
This all comes on top of the state retreating from its community development
efforts. There is essentially no new money for affordable housing and the
state's Redevelopment Fund is not being funded this year.
Keith Ford
Deputy Executive Director
Minneapolis Community Development Agency
(612) 673-5013 Fax (612) 673-5293
http://www.mcda.org/
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