Agenda - Charter Commission - 08/27/2020

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public engagement techniques used in other cities to be particularly useful in gaining public support for new revenue generating tools. For example, one city created an online forum to provide a space for the city to answer the public's questions while also allowing citizens to engage with each other regarding the different alternatives. Another city used a combination of public meetings, written correspondence, website information, and a mailed newsletter. And, while it is difficult to determine how successful the outreach efforts have been, the city mentioned that the mailed newsletter has been rated as the resident's favorite source of road improvement information. A third city found success in implementing franchise fees through a series of structured meetings designed to collect community feedback and provide small group presentations to the community making the case for franchise fees (Narvaez, 2017). This city targeted its messaging towards property owners who had upcoming assessment bills based on street improvement plans, and who may have been more receptive to road funding alternatives that helped them avoid large assessments. Finally, one city mentioned that they distribute several publications and public announcements that highlight its street infrastructure levy and how it compares to other communities. Varying definitions of equity Our conversations with cities highlighted three distinct definitions of equity that factored into evaluating road funding criteria. These equity definitions could be described as: 1 Ability to pay principle, 2. Benefits received principle, and 3. Equal payment principle. Cities that utilized the ability to pay principle talked about raising revenues in ways that would correspond with how much residents are able to afford it. This came up in conversation with the League of Minnesota Cities, when discussing that franchise fees were somewhat regressive; however, there weren't many other options available. Another definition of equity is based on the benefits received principle. Some cities referenced this principle in regard to special assessments, while others referred to this in the ability to charge tax exempt residents (such as through franchise fees). The last, and most commonly utilized definition of equity can be considered the equal payment principle. Cities that referenced equity in this manner spoke about how each resident is responsible for paying equal parts of local roads and not face a significant burden. CONCLUSION This study had the following two key objectives. 1) Survey and interview city managers and engineers to document the range and nature of sustainable road funding mechanisms in suburban cities in the Twin -Cities Metro Region. 2) Understand why cities fund the way they do to better assess how various options may fit into the context of Ramsey. Based on the interviews and surveys collected from eight cities in the seven -county metro region the research team was able to document road funding techniques used in each municipality as well as the rationale for their current funding structures. Overall the cities involved in this study seemed to be satisfied with their current funding structures with a number of the cities having updated their road funding policies in the past decade. Key criteria such as equity, defined in numerous ways, led city leaders to make these road financing decisions. While general funds, supported by property 13