The Minneapolis City Council will take initial votes Wednesday on a massive, $800 million proposal to breath new life into the city's crumbling roads and parks.
Six charts explaining Minneapolis' $800 million road and park plan
The Minneapolis City Council will take the first votes Wednesday on a massive, $800 million proposal to breath new life into the city's crumbling roads and parks.
By ericroper
April 27, 2016 at 4:20PM
The deal, reached earlier this week, is a once-in-a-generation committment and represents a new level of coordination between the city and its semi-independent Park Board. It follows months of volleying proposals, including the Park Board's push to have a referendum on park funding.
The council will deliberate over the plan, and its fine print, at Wednesday's committee of the whole meeting. They are expecting to vote on it at the full council meeting this Friday.
Below are several city and Park Board charts explaining, from the perspective of city and park officials, why the infusion is necessary and how to pay for it.
The Park Board, led by superintendent Jayne Miller, says its facilities are in dire need of repair. Many buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s and require renovations or replacement.
The city's engineer, Steve Kotke, explained earlier this year that the city's roads and streets are deteriorating faster than they're being repaired. Without an extra $30 million a year, he said, they will deteriorate quickly.
Most of the city's streets were constructed or last reconstructed in the 1960s.
The $800 million, 20-year proposal to pay for it all relies heavily on property tax increases, as well as issuing debt. Cash balances and reserves will be tapped in the early years.
That proposal would drive up the city's property tax levy -- the dollar amount it collects in taxes -- by an average of .66 percent per year. That's on top of average 3.3 percent increases the city says are needed to maintain existing services.
It spikes in year five to bring revenues from special pre-1979 taxing districts, which now pay for neighborhoods and Target Center, into the city's general fund.
The deal is very complex, relying on a variety of funding sources -- particularly in the early years. The spreadsheet below illustrates where the money would come from.
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