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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, April 18, 2016 Page 26 For background purposes, City Manager Trudgeon provided the City Council with his latest in- formation learned last week about companion bills in the Minnesota House and Senate proposing the creation of a Ramsey County EDA. Mr. Trudgeon advised that, from his understanding, the bill being considered by the legislature would deviate from the non -nal process of allowing com- mittee hearings and recommendation that allowed an opportunity for Ramsey County munici- palities to review and comment on it. Essentially, Mr. Trudgeon advised that the left those communities out of the decision-making, and also didn't address existing statutory references, requirements and levy implications. From staff's initial review of the legislation, City Manager Trudgeon reported that it appears that it is not referencing the current statutory language for a city to opt out of the county EDA, negat- ing their ability to opt out of that additional levy. In his conversations with Ramsey County staff (Ms. Worthington), Mr. Trudgeon reported that, while it may be intended that Ramsey County would consider communities and interested projects to opt out, there was no direct mechanism for a Ramsey County municipality to do so. Mr. Trudgeon stated that Ms. Worthington indicated that the County's policy board (Board of Commissioners) would not want to do an EDA levy without local support, there was no specific provision outlining that intent. On the Senate side (Senate File 2774), City Manager Trudgeon advised that he understood that the bill was out of committee and on the floor; while on the House side (House File No. 2957), it was not yet out of committee but he was unable to determine its status. City Manager Trudgeon reported that there was a separate and similar bill for Washington, and while it was hard to determine its status at this point, there was a strong desire to get the bill ap- proved before the legislative session ends this month. Mayor Roe addressed existing statutory authority for counties to establish EDA's based on his review, noting that the current language addressed the need for that EDA process to include rep- resentatives of each municipality within the county. Mayor Roe noted that a major part of the concern from his perspective was that in bypassing that part of existing statutory language at the beginning and being silent as to any opt out provisions in this proposed legislation, it seems to allow Ramsey County to establish a county EDA without providing an opt out for municipalities within that county jurisdiction, especially the ability to opt out of any additional tax levies, mak- ing numerous Ramsey County communities uncomfortable. Councilmember Willmus questioned how aware the legislature was of municipal concerns with this potential legislation and concerns going forward that could drastically impact the City of Ro- seville's own programs to render assistance and city -specific programming for its own residents. Councilmember Willmus emphasized the need to be prudent in how the City Council looked at this proposed legislation and impacts to Roseville's taxpayers and overall tax base. With the City of Roseville's strong commercial tax base, Councilmember Willmus noted the potential for tax receipts to flow outside the city to a greater extent than they even currently do. Coun- cilmember Willmus sought a broader discussion with Ramsey County Board members as to the intent, scope and purpose of this legislation. Absent that discussion and the timing for ending