Agenda - Council - 12/20/1983 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Page -9- 020, 025, gl S.Ct. 1101, 1105 (1961) where "achievement of the State's objective" is deemed key to surviving a constitutional challenge. Plaintiffs take issue with and affirmatively dispute the fact that the statute achieves either the purpose advanced by the defendants or the more numerous purposes advanced by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs have retained Edward A. Robinson, a partner in the firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Certified Public Accountants, to review and provide expert testimony concerning the distribution of local govern- ment aid. Robinson's affidavit is attached hereto. that: In paragraph 5(a) Robinson states "LGA (Local Government Aid) does not achieve the goal of property tax relief for all levy limit cities. LGA does not insure that property tax relief occurs, any property tax relief that occurs is accidental." Robinson further states in 5(b) that= "it becomes mere speculation that local government aid directly substitutes for reduced property taxes." In paragraph 6a-f Robinson states that the statute has "failed" to achieve six other purposes for the legislation, purposes advanced by the League of Minnesota Cities when the aid formula change was introduced in 1979. Plaintiff's understand that defendants contend the statute does achieve its purposes, but clearly this is an issue of material fact which cannot now be decided on a motion for summary judgment. As further evidence that the state aid formula does not achieve its purposes Robinson's affidavit sets forth facts establishing the arbitrariness of the aid distribution. For example, the most significant factor in determining a city aid is not one of the classifications cited by the defendants such as tax base, revenue base, or fiscal need, but rather the amount of aid received in the prior year°