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Approval requirements As noted, the enabling legislation may allow other methods of local approval. For instance, laws authorizing the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, and Rochester (first authorization) sales taxes provided that the city council could impose the tax by ordinance. Duration and Reauthorization The special law for each jurisdiction provides for the duration of the tax. In most instances, duration is the time necessary for the tax to yield sufficient revenue to pay the debt of general obligation bonds issued to fund the project(s) authorized. Exceptions are the Duluth and Minneapolis taxes, which have no expiration date. Two variations from the standard statutory duration language whereby the tax expires when sufficient revenues have been met are the Hermantown tax and the St. Cloud area sales tax. The Hermantown sales tax, authorized in 1996, expires either (1) when sufficient funds have been raised to pay for the specified projects, or (2) 10 years after imposition, whichever is later. The St. Cloud area sales tax began on January 1, 2003, and will expire on December 31, 2005. No bonding authority was granted. The proceeds are dedicated to pay all or part of certain improvements to the St. Cloud regional airport. Any revenues collected in excess of the amount needed for the airport project maybe distributed among the participating cities for specified projects of regional significance. Notably, when funds for the original purpose have been realized, special laws re- authorizinglocal sales taxes usually have also provided a specific amount of money to be raised for new uses (see Appendix D, Selected Historical Summaries for the Local General Sales Taxes). An example of this tendency toward reauthorization for other purposes is the Minneapolis sales tax, which is dedicated to operating and improving the Minneapolis Convention Center. In 1992, the legislature expanded the authorized use of this tax for neighborhood learning centers. However, the city has not yet used its city sales tax revenue for this purpose. In jurisdictions that now have or have had local sales taxes, the full One view of regional centers* duration of the tax has been used to raise sufficient revenue for the Metro central cities Greater Minnesota authorized purposes. Minneapolis regional centers St. Paul Albert Lea Regional Benefits vs. Local Benefits Metro large cities Austin Bemidji The de artment was also asked to review the authorized uses of the p Apple Valley Blaine Brainerd local sales tax to determine if they have been regional in nature or of Cloquet Bloomington Fairmont more limitedbenefit. While the concept of "regional" maybe somewhat Brooklyn Park Burnsville Faribault imprecise, it seems reasonable to classify the current tax uses for coon Rapids Fergus Falls Hibbing airports, hospitals, and very large convention centers as regional, and Eagan Hutchinson general revenue, parks, police stations, fire stations, sewer systems, and Eden Prairie Edina Little Falls streets as local It can also be argued that public libraries could be Maple Grove Mankato Marshall considered as either regional or local, depending on the size of the city. Minnetonka Moorhead See A endix C for a listin of the full ran e of current uses, alon with pp g g g Plymouth New Ulm SOme propOSed US2S. Greater Minnesota Northfield major cities Owatonna Althou h the definition of a re tonal center is o en to inter retation, g g h h Duluth Red Wing Rochester Virginia the League of Minnesota Cities's cluster analysis (at left) provides four st. cloud Willmar city groupings that could be helpful in defining "large regional centers " Winona Worthington . The four groupings are: Metro central cities, Metro large cities, Greater Minnesota major cities and Greater Minnesota regional centers. *from the League of Minnesota Cities report, "Clustering Minnesota Cities" available at www.lmnc.org/pdfs/ClusteringMi nnesotaCities080 3.pdf