KSTP reports on proposed legislation for a Municipal Street Improvement District.
Instead of using money from property taxes, cities could use yearly tax assessments for on-going upgrades. Erhardt says it’s a good investment strategy that actually saves money in the long run. “Wasted money, temporary stuff, into the potholes which will blow out of there in short time and it’s not the potholes, it is the road deteriorating that bad.”
As a believer in local autonomy and road maintenance, this seems a good idea. This is a form of value capture, similar to Special Assessments, though different in some important, subtle, legal ways.
The League of Minnesota Cities says:
Existing funding mechanisms for street maintenance and reconstruction are inadequate. Special assessments can be onerous to property owners and are difficult to implement for some cities. Special assessments are not always useful for funding collector streets and other streets that do not abut private property. Property tax dollars are generally not dedicated and are sometimes diverted to more pressing needs such as public safety, water quality and cost participation in state and county highway projects. Municipal state aid (MSA) is limited to cities over 5,000 population of 853 cities in Minnesota–and cannot be applied to more than 20% of a MSA city’s lane miles. Existing MSA is not keeping up with needs on the MSA system.
David Levinson, Transportist 