EDSR INFORMATION #1 11-13-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1012ht8ce&Commerce>Print>Counting construction jobs proves difficult The situation raises questions about accountability because the whole point of the program was to create construction jobs, according to state Sen. James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, who helped author the 2010 bill that created the program. "There ought to be a better accountability. First, what : 1 - :• ,r are they doing with the money? I guess we.know that. ',Al,' But how many jobs are you creating with ths — the i construction jobs and permanent jobs?" Metzen said. Another bill author, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Bakk, DFL-Cook, also thinks taxpayers should care. J �A "When you reduce someone's tax burden, it raises everyone else's," Bakk said. j But Bakk says he and other lawmakers decided not to require job counting because local property tax dollars �� m — not state dollars — were being spent. Bakk thought E , accountability should be at the local level. Its local in that cities don t have to do it, and if they r do,they pay for it themselves," Bakk said. '� l " I : During checks with each of the 35 cities or entities, -3t} .' i • 1P � Finance & Commerce found that the legislation app ears � 15 to have created 2,199 construction jobs in 14 cities and I is creating or retaining 7,681 permanent jobs in 24. But - more than half the permanent jobs are simply moving t . . t from Target's downtown Minneapolis headquarters to i „ - tt its northern campus in Brooklyn Park. i �s � � � For the cities keeping track, it cost an average of $8,213.53 in property taxes per construction job and I v: ° t i l $3,761.17 per permanent job, according to F&C's J� f analysis. Exclude the Target project in Brooklyn Park, s and the average cost was $6,979.52 per permanent u job. E ' �_ m Cyr t;,� . i ' f x�� Even whether such averages hold up is an issue ,, „ ,; �,,, because cities that did count did not always go back to g verify. A popular argument among local officials was P. N • S that they could see with their own eyes that ' construction was happening, so why formally check? `' F :1';'i : r, 30fiT f ft7 iriif Regina Harris, Bloomington's Housing and Redevelopment Authority administrator, estimates Graphics: Tim Montgomery Frana Construction's work on the 212-apartment, 2.2- townhome Genesee project brought 250 construction jobs to the site at the southeast corner of Penn Avenue South and American Boulevard. She also anticipates 60 full-time jobs once the entire project is complete. Harris, however, argued that checking back on the jobs numbers was unneeded and that the legislation did not require it. "I just take the jobs bill for what it was, which was please go out there and create jobs, and they didn't say how many," Harris said. Others counted permanent jobs, but not construction jobs. In the case of the St. Paul Port Authority, officials decided that counting and double-checking permanent jobs was much more important. "The reason to do the construction in the first place is to support long-term business growth. This isn't construction for construction's sake," said St. Paul Port Authority President Louis Jambois. The Port Authority steered $2.3 million toward two projects worth $55.7 million and claims to 2/3