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bodies. A good example is tax increment financing ("TIF"). Under Minnesota Statutes, <br /> Sections 469.174 to 469.179 (the "TIF Act'), the EDA may establish TIF districts, but <br /> only if the City Council holds a public hearing, makes the required findings, and <br /> approves the TIF Plan. <br /> But once the City Council has approved the TIF district, the City Council has no further <br /> right to control what happens to the tax increment revenues or the development activities. <br /> The EDA can enter into development contracts, buy and sell land, give pay-as-you-go <br /> TIF Notes, and even issue tax increment revenue bonds, all without Council approval (so <br /> long as everything the EDA does is within the scope of the Council-approved TIF Plan). <br /> Technically, this is already the case for the City's three existing TIF Districts,which were <br /> initially created by the City but transferred to the EDA in 1997. <br /> Abatement under Sections 469.1812 to 469.1815, by contrast, is a power given only to <br /> the City Council. The EDA may make recommendations, but it has no powers to actually <br /> approve an abatement. <br /> But where the Council members sit as the EDA board, the only question is which body <br /> should be convened to access the relevant statutory authority. For the most part, the EDA <br /> does not mandate significant new procedures and meetings. For example, EDA meetings <br /> can be scheduled on the same night as a Council meeting—before, after, or even in the <br /> middle of a regular meeting. Or, some cities prefer to schedule EDA meetings on a <br /> different night, simply to emphasize the different role when council members are acting <br /> as EDA commissioners. <br /> If the enabling resolution were revised to include non-council members on the EDA <br /> board, the situation is somewhat different. The bodies do function more separately, and <br /> the common practice is to add some limitations on the EDA's activities in the enabling <br /> resolution. The most typical limitation is to require City Council approval for issuance of <br /> any bonds by the EDA. But this is entirely a matter for the City Council to decide. I am <br /> aware of at least one City where the EDA board has a majority of non-council members, <br /> and virtually all EDA actions (including all land acquisitions and contracts) require prior <br /> Council approval. That type of enabling resolution means the EDA functions more like <br /> an advisory body. <br /> I will be available at the Council study session on February 21, 2011 to discuss these <br /> points in more detail. <br /> 2 <br />