--- David Brauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've also heard some talk about the Met Council (or state?) pondering a > sale-leaseback of the sewer system??!!! > True? Does it include Minneapolis sewers? <snip> > David Brauer > Kingfield
Below is some more information on that topic posted by Dan Dobson to the mn-politics-national list. The referenced article includes the following Minneapolis-specific comment: Minneapolis City Coordinator John Moir said officials there were not interested in the lease proposals because they feared taking the sewers off the city's balance sheet as an asset would damage Minneapolis' credit rating. Regards, Jason Stone | Hale * * * To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: Send an Instant Message "Dan Dobson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Send an Instant Message "Dan Dobson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 16:02:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: MP-N: Plan to Build a New Stadiums by selling Community Assets A little while ago I posted about a plan that may arise in the near future to sell community assets, i.e. the Saint Paul Regional Water System or the Met Council's Sewage Treatment System to finance a new Twins and/or Vikings Stadium. An excellent article appeared last week in the Pioneer Press last week about these very complex lease/leaseback arrangements and their questionable legality. See the full story at: www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/7342632.htm ====================================================== Tue, Nov. 25, 2003 Cities considering complex lease deals BY PATRICK SWEENEY Pioneer Press Since early summer, about a dozen Minnesota cities, including St. Paul, have been considering a New York investment firm's pitch: Lease public sewer systems to private companies that will use the systems for tax deductions, and get significant payments up front. The proposal, which could yield about $30 million for St. Paul, is attractive to cash-strapped cities. Burnsville, Rochester, Eagan and Duluth are considering it as well, and other public-private infrastructure deals have surfaced elsewhere in the country. But a U.S. senator from Iowa recently assailed the lease arrangement as "good, old-fashioned tax fraud," and some Minnesota officials are raising questions about it as well. The complicated financing plan calls for cities to lease the systems to private companies, then immediately lease them back and continue operating them as the cities always have. www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/7342632.htm Dan Dobson Summit Hill - Saint Paul __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
