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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Resolution 2006-060City of Plymouth Resolution 2006-060 Affirming 2006 City Council Goals And Legislative Priorities Be it resolved that the following goals and issues for study are hereby adopted by the City Council for 2006: Goals: • Continue Comprehensive Plan process • Implement street and utility maintenance and reconstruction program; Refine fiunding strategies and continue to seek additional funding • Complete capital projects — public safety building expansion; water treatment plants, reservoir, Zachary Playfield reconstruction, Bass Lake Lift Station, Transit Station 73 • Advocate on Transportation and Transit issues and aggressively seek new, stable, and increased fiunding • Legislative Priorities (attached) Issues for Study: • Consider options relating to high speed wireless services • Study new water quality improvement options as part of water quality plan updates Legislative Priority Issues: Local Control. The City of Plymouth believes that local control is the cornerstone of representative local government. We urge legislators to put decision-making on local issues in the hands of local officials. This leaves no question about who is responsible and increases accountability. We oppose legislation that erodes local control or creates mandates without a corresponding state appropriation or fiunding mechanism. Levy Limits. Levy limits should not be re-enacted. Local government officials should have the ability to make decisions on local taxation and service levels. State -imposed limits on local decision making, such as proposed Taxpayer Bill of Rights or Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey, are inconsistent with local accountability and do not provide meaningful information to citizens. These are rigid formula mechanisms that counter representative democracy and challenge local units of government to plan with financial confidence. Market Value Homestead Credit. The City supports fill funding of the Market Value Homestead Credit. Each year since 2003, the State has not reimbursed cities for the Market Value Homestead Credit. To date, Plymouth has lost more than $2 million in promised reimbursements from the state. In order to remove unpredictability from budgeting and to improve transparency, the City also encourages the state to provide Market Value Homestead Credit directly to homeowners, rather than administering the program through the cities. Transportation and Transit Funding. The entire economy benefits from a sound and adequately funded transportation system. To adequately address growing congestion, this system must be multi -modal. Consequently, significantly greater resources are needed to provide high quality, efficient systems that include both transit and highways. The City encourages the Legislature to identify long-term fiinding sources with growth potential that will increase transportation fiinding to levels that will allow the building of high quality, efficient metropolitan and local transit and highway systems. In addition, local elected officials should continue to be included in MnDOT's decision-making process when state -aid roads and highways are planned in a city. The City supports preservation of opt -out transit status, and the expansion of the transit taxing district. The City supports the Legislature allowing revenue options for cities, such as street utility fees. The City supports the constitutional amendment to dedicate 100% of MVST for transportation purposes. Emergency Preparedness. Additional measures have been identified as necessary for improved emergency preparedness at the state and local levels including training for local fire and law enforcement personnel, additional detection and decontamination capability, additional vaccinations/antidotes and protective equipment, and improved interagency communications. The Legislature should support and fiind these activities at both state and local levels to improve our readiness to meet emergency conditions that may arise from natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and emerging threats. Firefighter Staffing. Shortage of paid -on-call and volunteer firefighters is a statewide issue. The City of Plymouth encourages the State to enact legislation to enhance recruitment and retention of paid -on-call and volunteer firefighters. Consideration could be given to providing tax credits and supplemental disability insurance. Affordable and Life Cycle Housing. Economic and demographic trends indicate that Minnesota's population is aging and workers need more affordable housing closer to where they work. The region's population age 65 and older will likely double from the year 2000 to 2020. Jobs in Plymouth are projected to increase approximately 27% during the same period. Housing is both a statewide and local issue. The City urges the Legislature to maintain and increase resources to the extent possible in order to encourage the development of affordable housing for both of these groups. Local property taxes should not be relied upon to fiend housing programs because this increases the cost of housing for those most in need and has regressive impacts. We oppose legislation that creates mandates without a corresponding state appropriation or fiunding mechanism. Clean Water Funding. The City supports fair and equitable fiunding of the Clean Water Legacy Act by the State of Minnesota. Sales tax exemption on local government purchases. When the State was experiencing a budget shortfall in 1992, the Legislature repealed the sales tax exemption for local government purchases. Cities now pay state sales tax for purchases of items such as road maintenance equipment and building materials. Since the Legislature provided no additional state aids to offset the cost, this policy effectively increased local property taxes to finance state government operations. The City supports legislation to reinstate the sales tax exemption for all local government purchases. Utility Relocations. The City has experienced significant project delays due to lack of timely response by utility companies in relocating utilities. Legislation is requested to require that if a utility company fails to relocate utilities in a timely manner and causes a delay in a constriction project, the City shall be held harmless. The City opposes the Highway and Street Projects Cost Rider (ICR) proposed by utility companies. This would add a line item for purported "government required relocations." The vast majority of utility relocations are done because the utility company wants to do the replacement while the streets are disrupted. The City's work rarely creates a situation that requires utility line relocation. Cable Franchise Authority. The City supports the continued authority of local government relating to franchising of cable services. Adopted by the City Council on January 24, 2006.