05-12-14 Special WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—MAY 12, 2014 6 is not enough money for park development, it may be the City's responsibility to fund part of the park improvements. Funding options to finance the park improvements, other than using park dedication money or City reserves (PIR fund), are limited. City Administrator Klaers discussed private developers who might request public improvements for their subdivisions. These localized capital improvements can be funded by the City and assessed; or they can be funded and installed by the private developer (the City reviews and approves plans/specs and inspects construction). City Administrator Klaers stated that operating expenses are future ongoing expenses for the maintenance of the improvements such as manpower, equipment and supplies required to operate and maintain local streets, parks, and surface water ponds. Other operating expenses include providing municipal services such as public safety services. Tax revenues from the new development needs to be sufficient to fund these expenses. The key to successfully funding the future operating expenses will be the balance of the land uses and the amount and type of redevelopment that takes place. Generally speaking, the City pays more for services than what it receives in property taxes in the residential areas. The opposite is true for commercial and business park developments. City Administrator Klaers commented that most of the immediate City financial issues are related to capital expenditures. In this regard, the City ,is well positioned to issue public improvement bonds for the projects and assess the cost to the benefitted property owner. The structure (repayment schedule) of the bonds is the key to having the project be acceptable to all the partners. City Administrator Klaers indicated that his comments have been offered to continue the conversation regarding TCAAP financial issues. The TCAAP redevelopment project is very complex and discussion regarding the financial issues will require a series of meetings dedicated to specific topics. Understanding the TCAAP financial issues at the staff level is an ongoing and evolving process. City Administrator Klaers requested Council feedback on the following two questions: What is your number one concern for TCAAP? And, what is your number one goal for TCAAP? City Administrator Klaers stated that as time allows, he would like the City Council to discuss establishing a policy on the use of the Met Council SAC credits that have been issued to the TCAAP site. The topic was briefly discussed on March 31St and at that time it was noted by staff that one of the top priorities for use of these funds may be to pay for the Master Plan studies that are currently underway; and that other priorities to consider included: • The City share of the water feature; • Park Development; • Special needs in the Town Square area(i.e. public space or parking); and/or • SAC waivers as an economic development incentive for special opportunities.