5.5. SR 03-24-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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spending enough in their capital construction and maintenance programs over the last 5 years to maintain a 50-year life cycle on their city street systems #C-2: The funding gap in MSA eligible cities is more severe on the locally funded roads than on the state funded MSA system. There is a misconception among some people that the state provides MSA funding which supports most of the cost of a city's road maintenance and construction budget. It is important to remember that the MSA funds from the state support only 20 percent of roadways in the 130 eligible cities with populations over 5,000, as illustrated in Figure 33. Figure 33 Distribution of 2002 Minnesota MSA City Owned Roadway Mileage (Total MSA City Mileage: 13,565) MSA System vs. Municipal Streets 20.8% 2,817 mi According to the information provided in the 2002 City Road and Bridge Funding 79.2% Survey, these cities on average spend 10.748 mi. about 2.1 times more on capital costs on I" MSAMileage · Municipal Streets Mileage 1 their non-MSA roads compared to their MSA systems, however, the non-MSA systems have four times the mileage! This relationship is illustrated I Figure 34. F~g.re a4 Average Spending per Mile for Each of the 3 City Road Categories MSA System, Cities O~er 5,000 LocallyFunded City Streets, - Total Mileage 2,818 Cities Over 5,000 - Total Mileage 14,072 Locally Funded City Streets, Ci~es Under 5,000 - Total Mileage 1,703 Policy Options The following policy options should be considered to assist Minnesota's 130 cities over 5,000 in population to finance the 80% of their city street systems that are not eligible to receive state funding under the MSA program. Provide funding for a "Local Road Improvement Program" The principal purpose of the program would be to establish a pool of funding to support local road and bridge projects that would increase the capacity of the existing transportation system, but that do not benefit from the current funding structure. (A program designed to achieve these goals was passed by the 2002 legislature, but the funding was vetoed by the Governor.) (See Section 5, recommendation #1, page 40) Provide cities greater flexibility to generate revenues through special assessments. Enhancing the ability of Minnesota cities to impose special assessments for new construction or reconstruction would be helpful to many cities seeking to finance needed infrastructure improvements based on the "ability to pay" and "benefits received" principals. There may be some legal issues that could complicate implementation of these issues, but the Legislature should examine and consider making changes to provide cities greater authority. 34