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Figure 26 <br />Total Estimated City Bridge, Bridges 10 Feet and Over <br />Structurally Deficient and Functionally Obsolete Bridges - Sufficiency Rating Less Than 80 <br />2000 <br />Estimated <br /> Total Bridges Deficient Bridges Improvement Costs Average Cost/Bridge <br /> 1,247 316 $99,813,000 $315,864 <br />Source: Minnesota Department of Transportation, Office of Bridges and <br />Structures <br /> <br />#A-5: Cities are often required to contribute to Mn/DOT and county road/County State Aid <br />Highway projects located within city limits. <br /> <br />For some Minnesota cities, scarce funding that would otherwise be available for their own city streets <br />or for the MSA system (for larger cities), is instead committed for the cities share for maintenance or <br />improvements to the state or county roadways that are located within city borders. While none would <br />doubt the value of these projects, the fact remains that city resources diverted to projects on road and <br />bridges not part of the city owned systems hinders many cities in their efforts to address project needs <br />on their own systems. <br /> <br />Policy Options <br />A number of policy options should be considered by the State Legislature in their efforts to provide <br />Minnesota cities with the tools to meet their local transportation funding challenges. The following list <br />of options would benefit any and all Minnesota cities. (For simplicity, these options are identified <br />briefly here, and each is described in greater detail in Section 5 of the report.) <br /> <br /> Provide funding for a "Local Road Improvement Program" <br />The principal purpose of the program would be to establish a pool of funding to support local road <br />and bridge projects that would increase the capacity of the existing transportation system, but that <br />do not benefit from the current funding structure. (A program designed to achieve these goals was <br />passed by the 2002 legislature, but the funding was vetoed by the Governor.) <br />(See Section 5, recommendation #1, page 40) <br /> <br /> Provide cities greater flexibility to generate revenues through special assessments. <br />Enhancing the ability of Minnesota cities to impose special assessments for new construction or <br />reconstruction would be helpful to many cities seeking to finance needed infrastructure <br />improvements based on the "ability to pay" and "benefits received" principals. There may be some <br />legal issues that could complicate implementation of these issues, but the Legislature should <br />examine and consider making changes to provide cities greater authority. <br />(See Section 5, recommendation #2, page 41) <br /> <br />o <br /> <br /> Provide cities with additional local taxing authority, including the authority to establish a <br />"Transportation Utility". <br />Because of the limitations on special assessments, general fund appropriations and other potential <br />funding sources, many cities are finding it increasingly difficult to develop a financing program to <br />fund needed improvements and maintenance. Authorizing cities to finance transportation <br />infrastructure by establishing a transportation utility would result in users of the system providing <br />the additional revenue necessary to support its construction and/or maintenance. Other "user- <br />based" funding sources could include local option fuel taxes or sales taxes on the price of fuel. <br />(See Section 5, recommendation #3, page 42) <br /> <br />27 <br /> <br /> <br />