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Transportation <br /> limited tools and resources, cities are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain aging <br /> streets. <br /> Street improvement districts allow cities in developed and developing areas to fund new <br /> construction as well as reconstruction and maintenance efforts. <br /> The street improvement district is designed to allow cities, through the use of a fair and <br /> objective fee structure, to create a district or districts within the city where fees will be <br /> raised on all properties in the district and that must be spent within the boundaries of the <br /> district. Street improvement districts would also aid cities under 5,000, giving them an <br /> alternative to the property tax system and special assessments. <br /> Metro Cities supports the authority of local units of government to establish street <br /> improvement districts. Metro Cities also supports changes to special assessment <br /> laws to make assessing state-owned property a more predictable process with <br /> uniformity in the payment of assessments across the state. <br /> 5-E Highway Turnbacks & Funding <br /> Cities do not have the financial capacity, other than significant property tax increases, to <br /> absorb the additional roadway responsibilities without new funding sources. The existing <br /> municipal turnback fund is not adequate based on contemplated turnbacks. <br /> Metro Cities supports.jurisdictional reassignment or turnback of roads (M.S. <br /> 161.16, Subd. 4), on a phased basis using functional classifications and other <br /> appropriate criteria subject to a corresponding mechanism for adequate funding of <br /> roadway improvements and continued maintenance. <br /> Metro Cities does not support the wholesale turnback of county or state roads <br /> without the consent of municipality and the total cost, agreed to by the municipality, <br /> being reimbursed to the city in a timely manner. <br /> 5-F "3C" Transportation Planning Process: Elected Officials' Role <br /> The Transportation Advisory Board (TAB)was developed to meet federal requirements, <br /> designating the Metropolitan Council as the organization that is responsible for a <br /> continuous, comprehensive and cooperative (3C)transportation planning process to <br /> allocate federal funds among metropolitan area projects. Input by local officials into the <br /> planning and prioritization of transportation investments in the region is a vital <br /> component of these processes. <br /> Metro Cities supports continuation of the TAB with a majority of locally elected <br /> municipal officials as members and participating in the process. <br /> 2017 Legislative Policies 54 <br />