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Part III -Review of Public Comments The Department of Revenue conducted three public meetings in 2003 to solicit comments on local sales taxes. The meetings were held September 16 in Brainerd, September 17 in Rochester, and September 18 in St. Paul. The meetings were well attended and various city and county officials, legislators, individual citizens, business organizations, and associations representing cities and counties provided comments. The comments can be roughly divided into three categories: criticism of the current process, local sales tax as a component of state and local revenues, and issues raised by the prospect of wider local authority for sales taxes. They are summarized below. Criticism of the Current Process It is apparent that there is discontent with the current process of authorizing local sales taxes. Legislators and public witnesses felt the process could be significantly improved. The uniform theme was that no consistent or objective criteria are available upon which to base a decision to authorize a local sales tax. The clear feeling was that the current process is too uncertain and subject to the vagaries of the political process. Without published criteria for approval or any public explana- tion for decisions to approve or disapprove requests, communities are unsure as to The current process how to make a proposal to the legislature, or even whether to go to the considerable expense to put a proposal together in the first place. Communities whose proposals do not receive legislative approval are without guidance as to what aspect of their proposals did not meet with the legislature's approval and whether or not to attempt the process again. The important point, it would seem, is that there is no opportunity fora commu- nity to learn from success or failure. This leads to repeated unsuccessful attempts by some communities, which frustrates both the community and the legislators. It also leads to unrealistic expectations by successful communities that all their future proposals or extensions will also be successful. Another problem caused by lack of clear and objective criteria is the perception, particularly among unsuccessful communities, that the approval process is driven by power politics rather than by merit. While legislators and nonpartisan staff may disagree, the perception is quite real and not one that builds confidence in the legislative process. Local Sales Tax as a Component of Local Public Finance There appears to be quite a significant range of opinion regarding the proper role of local option sales taxes as a component of the state and local revenue system. First, some communities believe that a local sales tax has become (or in some cases, should become) a necessary additional stream of general fund revenue for cities or 15