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Municipal Revenue & Taxation <br />Metro Cities also opposes legislation that would allow for capturing and pooling <br />growth in residential tax capacity to fund specific programs or objectives. <br />Further studies or task forces to consider modifications to the fiscal disparities program <br />must include participation and input from metropolitan local government representatives <br />1-J Constitutional Tax and Expenditure Limits <br />Metro Cities strongly opposes including tax and expenditure limits in the state <br />constitution. This would eliminate any flexibility on the part of the Legislature or <br />local governments to respond to unanticipated critical needs, emergencies, or <br />fluctuating economic situations. When services such as education, public safety and <br />health care require increased funding beyond the overall limit, experiences in at least one <br />other state indicate that other publicly funded services receive less than adequate <br />resources. Constitutional limits result in a reduced base during times of economic <br />downturn and the inability to recover to previous service levels when economic <br />prosperity returns. <br />1-K State Property Tax <br />The state levies a property tax on commercial/industrial and cabin property. Since cities' <br />only source of general funds is the property tax, Metro Cities strongly opposes extension <br />of the state -levied property tax to additional classes of property. <br />In the interest of increasing transparency around this tax, Metro Cities supports <br />efforts to have the state provide information on the property tax statement <br />regarding the state property tax. Metro Cities opposes exempting specific classes of <br />property under the tax as such exemptions shift the costs of the tax onto other <br />classes of property. <br />1-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 <br />system. <br />1-M Regional Facility Host Communities <br />Municipalities hosting regional facilities (such as utilities, landfills or aggregate mining) <br />incur costs and community impacts such as environmental damage or lost economic <br />development opportunities. Communities should be compensated for the impacts of these <br />facilities, which provide benefits to the region and state. Metro Cities supports <br />legislative efforts to offset the negative impacts of these facilities and activities on <br />2016 Legislative Policies 5 <br />