Robert and all: My point was that the Park Board has the money for this project under control. In fact we stand to lose some of the money if we are not able to purchase the entire parcel.
As far as the Park Board, in general, having its money under control: We have indeed restructured our tax plan; we are phasing it in over a 3 year period. This coming year, the 2002 budget we are now working on, will be year two. After the 3 year phase-in, our taxing level will be at a point where we can operate our system without always being in crisis mode. The only thing that stands in the way of this plan is the Board of Estimate and Taxation. The Board of E&T has 7 members: Mayor, City Council President, Chair of Ways & Means, Park Board Rep, Library Board Rep, and two elected members. The Board of E&T sets a maximum levy limit for all boards and coucil in the city. Now, if the city reps to the Board of E&T do not renege on our agreement, the Park Board will have its funding under control. The Park Board has not been over at City Hall asking for help. We have been over at City Hall asking for others to get out of our way. You are right, two years ago the Park Board did not have its money in order, now it does. As long as the City does not renege on our agreement. There are other issues. Money that comes from the state, often referred to as "state aid." We have agreements with the city on how it is to be devided between the city and the Park Board. HACA money was divided16% to Park Board, 84 % to City Council. LGA was divided 11% to Park Board, and 89% to City Council. These were long standing agreements. Last year the state eliminated HACA and put all the money into LGA. Because the Park Board gets only 11% of LGA, we are now getting less money from the state. HACA was a bigger pot of money. The Park Board perspective is that we need to restructure the % agreement so that we continue to recieve the same amount that we were recieving before. This of course is what some call, "the Park Board begging for money at city hall." So far the City has showed no inclination to rectify this problem. This is typical behavior for the city. They have historically found ways to steal the Park Board's money. The reason they are able to do this, is because all of the money is run through the city's accounts. The Park Board is lobbying to get our state money directly. In the interest of saving taxpayers money, the Park Board and the City have made some service redesign agreements in the last couple of years. For example, Public Works now does rountine maintenance of road surfaces on Parkways (we used to contract with Public Works for this service) and the Park Board now does routine maintenance on Green Spaces owned by Public Works. There are a number of details and other areas in the agreement that all agree have led to savings of $'s by increased efficiency. Dean Zimmermann Park Board Commissioner Council Member-elect/Ward 6 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
