Laserfiche WebLink
1 =1 ° Fiscal Disparity Fund Distribution <br />Metro Cities supported the passage of 2010 legislation to conduct an analysis of the Fiscal <br />Disparities Program. The study will be conducted by the Commissioner of Revenue and is <br />due February 1, 2012. The study shall analyze the benefits of economic growth across the <br />region, the program's impact on tax rates across the region, the impact of homestead <br />property tax burdens across jurisdictions, and the relationship between the impacts of the <br />program and overburden on jurisdictions with properties that provide regional benefits. <br />Metro Cities supports the continuation of the fiscal disparities program unless an <br />appropriate replacement is developed. Metro Cities opposes the use of fiscal disparities to <br />fund social or physical metropolitan programs since it results in a metropolitan -wide <br />property tax increase hidden from the public. <br />14 Constitutional Tax and Expenditure Limits <br />Metro Cities strongly opposes including tax and expenditure limits in the state constitution. <br />This would eliminate any flexibility on the part of the Legislature or local governments to <br />respond to unanticipated critical needs, emergencies, or fluctuating economic situations. <br />When services such as education, public safety and health care require increased funding <br />beyond the overall limit, experiences in at least one other state indicate that other publicly <br />funded services receive less than adequate resources. Constitutional limits result in a <br />reduced base during times of economic downturn and the inability to recover to previous <br />service levels when economic prosperity returns. <br />I -K State Property Tax <br />The 2001 Property Tax Reform Act shifted general education funding to the state, and <br />funded it, in part, with a new state property tax on commercial /industrial and cabin <br />property. The statute governing the state levy was subsequently amended so that the levy <br />is no longer dedicated to education, and the levy is automatically adjusted by the rate of <br />inflation as measured by the implicit price deflator. <br />Since cities' only source of general funds is the property tax, Metro Cities strongly opposes <br />extension of a state - levied property tax to additional classes of property. Metro Cities <br />supports efforts to have the state-provide information on the property tax statement <br />regarding the state property tax. <br />I -L Class Rate Tax System <br />Metro Cities opposes elimination of the class rate tax system, or applying future levy <br />increases to market value, since this would further complicate the property tax system. <br />4 Metro Cities <br />