Agenda - Council - 09/24/1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I~C)ARI) Ui~ ~UUN! · Anoka County, Minnesota OFFERED BY COMMISSIONER McCarron 85-8~ RESOLUTION REGARDING FISCAL DISPARITIES WHEREAS, in the I%0's there existed a wide variation in tax base and lax rates among communities in the Metropolitan area; and, WHEREAS; commerical and industrial growlh would occur in the areas in which State and regional services were available; and, WHEREAS~ taxing districts were reluctant to site regional parks and other tax- free facililiesl and~ WHEREAS, there must be a compensating factor to the areas that have been eliminated from this commercial and industrial development and areas that have large amounts of tax-free land in their jurisdictions; and, WHEREAS, the Minnesota State Legislature enacted a tax base sharing program called fiscal disparities as a way of addressing the problem of unequal fiscal capacity of taxing districts; and, WHEREAS, fiscal disparities provides for the sharing of tax benefits from the growth and development of commercial and industrial property among taxing districts regardless of where the growth or development actually occurs; and, WHEREAS, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the validity of fiscal disparities; and, WHEREAS, the ratio between the city with the highest per capita commercial/industrial valuation and the lowest would be almost 15 to I without fiscal disparities and with fiscal disparities this ratio drops to ~, to I; and, WHEREAS, the County of Anoka itself receives a net gain of 2.3 million dollars and all of the taxing districts in Anoka County receive a total net gain of 8.7 million as a result of the fiscal disparities program; and, WHEREAS, without fiscal disparities, the taxing districts in Anoka County would have to raise property taxes in their jurisdictions or greatly reduce services to the citizens af the County~ and, WHEREAS, there may be a proposal to exempt a billion dollar development, including existing commercial/industrial property, from the fiscal disparity pool; and, WHEREAS, any exemption from the fiscal disparities pool, destroys the integrity of fiscal disparities: NOW~ THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Anoka County Board of Commissioners opposes any attempts at exclusions from fiscal disparities. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Anoka County Board would support a review of fiscal disparities in order to assure equitable operations of tax base sharing. BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the Anoka County Board of Commissioners encourages legislators to involve as many elected officials as po~sible from the cities, counties, townships and school districts in the metropolitan area in the search for equitable solutions. BE IF FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Anoka County Legislative Delegation and to all elected officials in Anoka County.