INFORMATION #1 11-05-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Finance & Commerce http://finance-commerce.com The great property tax free-for-all by Chris Newmarker Published: October 24th, 2012 When it came to taxpayer-funded breaks, Minneapolis- based discount retailer Target Corp. got a two-for-one special in the Twin Cities last year. :- Brooklyn Park officials gave Target $2.5 million for its northern office campus expansion just months after Inver Grove Heights gave $1.25 million for a Target If store delayed by concerns about consumer demand. The money came out of 2010 state legislation Y 9� permitting local governments to direct excess property tax dollars from tax increment financing districts to private developments. The idea was to kick-start hiring in a Minnesota construction industry that lost 50,000 jobs in the Great Recession. 58%of projects I i not From Target's plans at opposite ends of the Twin Cities track co6 construction to a Pizza Ranch in Elk River and a rehab of an aircraft maintenance facility in Duluth, 35 cities and other public entities across the state funneled $35.9 million to 76 building projects before the July 1 deadline for construction starts, according to a Finance & Commerce investigation. I That"temporary authority to stimulate construction," some claim, helped to leverage $510.6 million-worth of construction projects. As for construction jobs, numbers were unavailable for 44 out of 76 projects.Some cities did not keep track of the jobs at all, while others had incomplete or unverified counts, Finance & Commerce found. Why? The state legislation did not require them to count, complete or verify. The lack of oversight is troubling even to state Sen. James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, who helped to author the 2010 bill. Metzen says it is "common sense" that job creation was the goal and that tracking it holds communities accountable. "The cities should be counting. And if they're not, we ought to say to them, 'What did you do with the money? And how many construction jobs and =� permanent jobs were created?'... If they're not disclosing, maybe it has to be a requirement going forward: 'Tell us what ate' you're doing,'" Metzen said. ., Finance &Commerce found that the legislation appears to have created 2,199 , ` - construction jobs in 14 cities and is creating or retaining at least 7,681 permanent jobs in 24. Inver Grove Heights indirectly gave Target Corp. Even a number such as 7,681 permanent delayed by million for aboutconsumer demand. jobs is misleading. Less than a third are (Staff photos: Bill Klotz) jobs that employers are creating. Of the 5,412 retained, nearly three-fourths come from Target, which plans to move 3,900 jobs from downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park. For the cities keeping track of jobs, each construction job cost an average of$8,213.53 in