On 8/16/04 7:24 PM, "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Vicky writes (not in all caps in this part, fortunately): > >> In 2002, the legislature sent Minneapolis an extra $80+ million >> to pay down some of the Convention Center debt so that Moody's and >> Standard & Poors would leave your credit rating in tact - for a while anyway. > > The state ponied up less than one-third the cost of the Convention Center - > which is clearly a statewide asset from which the state gets much more taxes > than the city. > > Meanwhile, the state paid for ALL of Xcel Energy Center. > > That means Minneapolis uses its half-cent sales tax to pay off a statewide > asset, while St. Paul uses its half-cent sales tax to... keep state aid > reductions off the property tax by shifting sales taxes to its operating > budget. > > As for dependency on other governments: St. Paul is, by far, the biggest > recipient of fiscal disparities money (property taxes from new metro > development that's shifted to slow-growing or high-needs community) - $20 > million worth in 2004...compared to Minneapolis's $3.7 million. (PS > Businesses aren't leaving the Minneapolis or our fair city's > fiscal-disparities payment would be far higher than $3 million.) > > Minneapolis has fiscal misdeeds to atone for - but almost all are of past > regimes, and the current group is paying off the credit card... so future > generations aren't further burdened by the mistakes of the past. > > Bottom line: ignoring St. Paul's lavish metro/state support is to ignore > important context...especially if you're only going to flay Minneapolis as a > ward of other governments. In addition to the points David Brauer makes, it's important to note that while St. Paul's property tax levy may be flat, their fees continue to rise and multiply to cover their increased spending. >From Friday's Star Tribune article: "Kelly touts fairness of steady-levy plan" http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4925526.html "New council President Kathy Lantry, who said she agreed with the mayor's priorities, bristled at what she viewed as Kelly's "my-way-or-the-highway" signal to council members who wanted to consider other funding sources. "I'm eager to look at the numbers," she said. "What I noticed was there seems to be a lot of increased spending. As far as identifying the financing sources for those, it was difficult for me to tell where that was coming from. I don't know that you can collect enough from assessments to get to that level of increased spending." I'm not sure I really see the difference - either way, the property owners are paying out more than they used to. Also, a little history lesson may be in order. As Paul Demko noted almost two years ago in the City Pages, St. Paul is hardly immune to having handed out sweetheart deals to big corporations. Magical Misery Tour http://www.citypages.com/databank/23/1140/article10766.asp It would appear that the primary difference between Minneapolis and St. Paul is that in St. Paul, the credit card bill just hasn't come in the mail yet. Heaven help whoever's at the helm when that stuff hits the fan... Mark Snyder Windom Park 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
