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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, January 25, 2010 Page 7 tar sealants in water quality and monies provided to the U of MN and the MPCA to determine future remediation. 1) Rep. Scalze noted a pending bill for the Capital Investment Committee for a Fire Training Center in Maplewood; and a bill to increase the level of veto au- thority for Housing Improvement Areas, based on past experiences, including the City of Roseville, with Senate authors still being sought for that bill. Discussion among Councilmembers and Rep. Scalze included the Governor's Bonding Bill; appreciation to both Representatives for their assistance to the City for including the OVAL in past bonding bills; and clarification that the undiluted coal tar was not used by Cities, but was used throughout the Midwest from Texas to MN. Rep. Scalze noted her pleasure in working with the City's Public Works Director Duane Schwartz on the Rice Street Bridge project; and noted the collaborative ef- forts of all three cities involved. Mayor Klausing suggested that the City's Public Works, Environment, and Transportation Citizen Advisory Commission may want to look at the undiluted coal tar issue to see if it was a concern at a local level. Rep. Scalze advised that she was aware of three ordinances adopted to-date: Aus- tin, TX; the Wisconsin county where Madison, WI is located; and Washington, DC. Representative Mindy Greiling Rep. Greiling addressed the huge deficit and affects on Minnesota Cities and School Districts; and the actual size of the deficit based on the February forecast due out soon, and depending on the March 15, 2010 Supreme Court resolution on whether the Governor's unallotments would stand. Rep. Greiling opined that the issues remained, from her perspective over the years, but that they continued to grow larger, with an unprecedented deficit. Rep. Greiling addressed loss and im- pacts to Cities of Local Government Aid (LGA); cuts from the State to the County to local governments and their respective impacts; fair and progressive funding at the state level and difficulties in pursuing a consensus for that viewpoint. Rep. Greiling solicited the assistance of local elected officials and residents in assisting them with this legislation. Discussion among Councilmembers and Representatives Greiling and Scalze in- cluded levy limits and impacts to local government in 2010 and 2011; cooperative work of Rep. Scalze with Chair of the Tax Committee, Representative Lenc- zewski; School Districts seeking legislation to allow them to levy without going to the voters with a referendum; philosophical benefits of Market Value Home- stead Credits (MVHC) and needs to reform this funding mechanism to protect cit-