Minneapolis, MN

Why is most of the North Loop excluded from the downtown sales tax district?

Published

1 month ago

October 18, 2024

Why is most of the North Loop excluded from the downtown sales tax district?

Much of downtown Minneapolis is subject to a special 3% liquor, lodging and restaurant tax. But as downtown continues to see a declining office and retail market, the city has looked to expand the district into the North Loop, where development and entertainment have boomed in comparison to other neighborhoods and the city’s core.

As Minneapolis faces the crunch of declining post-pandemic commercial property tax revenues, it’s worth asking why the burgeoning North Loop isn’t included in a special tax district that’s been in place for years elsewhere in downtown.

The district’s boundary currently ends along the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks just northwest of Target Field. This means most of the bustling North Loop’s restaurants, bars and storefronts aren’t included in the downtown sales tax district. For example, the tax is applied at Fairgrounds Coffee and Tea on North Second Street but is not collected at Egg on a Roll at the other end of the same block.

In last year’s legislative agenda, Minneapolis sought to expand the district. House Bill HF 3715, authored by Rep. Esther Agbaje, and its companion Senate bill, SF 4243 authored by Sen. Scott Dibble, would have amended the boundaries. But the bills were ultimately referred to the Legislature’s property tax committee and never moved past that stage.

The district would have been expanded on the northwest through the North Loop, with the new cutoff at Plymouth Avenue North. It also would have been expanded on its southeast side into Elliot Park. This legislation also would have reduced the maximum 3% levy to a 2.5% maximum, at least for liquor and food. Lodging and hotel taxes would have remained at 3%. Revenue from the tax is used for economic development.

It wasn’t the only legislation that didn’t make the cut before the session ended. Many remaining bills were placed in a 1,430-page omnibus bill in less than 10 minutes in the House and 15 in the Senate.

“A lot of the stuff that we were trying to do got cut in order to make the deadline,” Agbaje said. “We’ll probably take another crack at this again. I’m still having conversations with the city.”

Officials are still looking to make the expanded district revenue neutral, Agbaje noted. While some tax levies for infrastructure projects get put to a vote via ballot referendum, this is not a case where that would happen, she clarified.

Revenue from the tax district doesn’t directly offset resident property tax burdens, which is notable in a year Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is proposing a 8.1% increase in 2025 property taxes. Rather, money from this district is funneled into the city’s general fund. The tax was created in 2013 to help finance the construction of the U.S. Bank Stadium.

At that time, the North Loop looked very different, Agbaje added.

“When it first started, there wasn’t a whole lot in the North Loop area, but as the North Loop grew and expanded, they wanted to bring it into the North Loop area,” Agbaje said of the sales tax. “It’s an ongoing conversation over what’s included in downtown Minneapolis.”

The U.S. Bank Stadium project funding was meant to wrap in 2020. While the state has completed its payments on the project, the city “does still have an obligation to U.S. Bank,” Agbaje said.

Minneapolis is in the process of evaluating its legislative agenda and policies to determine what may need to be changed ahead of next year’s session, according to a city statement sent to MinnPost.

“This is a staff and elected official process that will conclude before the end of the year,” the statement read. “Our legislative ask last session was to expand the special restaurant and liquor tax downtown boundary while lowering the tax rate, with the net result being revenue neutral. The city is currently evaluating whether this position is still beneficial for the city, or if this legislative ask should be modified in some way.”

Last week, the president of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), Steve Brandt, was taking time to refamiliarize himself with the city’s tax system when he said he saw the map at the bottom of the state’s revenue sheet for Minneapolis’ special local taxes “and I thought ‘Woah, we leave out a lot of territory between restaurants and liquor establishments.’”

Brandt asked why and learned the city had been seeking the expansion of this district, at least to the North Loop. He said a case could also be made to include the area around Surdyk’s at University and Central Avenue in Northeast and even into Cedar-Riverside.

“It just struck me as an equity issue,” Brandt said. “If establishments downtown are already paying the tax, and you’ve got people two blocks away who aren’t, it seems like what’s good for one would be good for another.”

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Minneapolis, MN

Fate of Minneapolis federal consent decree uncertain amid a Trump presidency

Published

2 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Fate of Minneapolis federal consent decree uncertain amid a Trump presidency

Fate of Federal Consent Decree up in the air with incoming Trump presidency

A major part of reforms for the Minneapolis Police Department may never come to be.

That part is the federal consent decree — which the city is still negotiating with the Department of Justice — given President-Elect Donald Trump’s track record surrounding this kind of action.

“When President Trump came in, he shut the whole thing down,” Emily Gunston, a former deputy chief with the DOJ about the pending consent decree with the city of Chicago she was working on when Trump began his first term.

“I think folks should expect that that’s exactly what President Trump will do in a second term, with regard to Minneapolis,” Gunston added.

In her more than twenty years working in the area of police practices, Gunston says she spent 9 years in the DOJ, mostly under President Barrack Obama’s administration, investigating and negotiating several consent decrees.

Following the murder of George Floyd, DOJ investigators said the MPD and the City of Minneapolis engaged in a, “pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”

Now months in the making, the city has been negotiating with the DOJ to finalize a federal consent decree.

“Because a court is not yet involved. President Trump, the Trump administration and new attorney general could just decide that this is not a case that they are pursuing,” Gunston added.

In a statement, Minneapolis attorney Kristyn Anderson shared the following.

City leadership has and will continue to prioritize negotiations with the Department of Justice and work toward a federal consent decree. Our commitment to reforming policing in Minneapolis and building a more just approach will not change based on who is in the White House.

Through the Settlement Agreement with the Minnesota Human Rights Department – which is modeled on a federal consent decree – as well as new initiatives led by the Office of Community Safety and Minneapolis Police Department, the City is moving with urgency to strengthen community trust and community safety in Minneapolis.

As mentioned in Anderson’s statement, the city and police department are already in the process of reform through the court enforceable settlement agreement with the state’s Human Rights Department.

Through its separate investigation, state investigators found, “race discrimination in violation of Minnesota Human Rights Act” — a spokesperson with the department sent the following.

The state consent decree between the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department is here to stay regardless of what happens at the federal level.

The agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights provides the framework for lawful, non-discriminatory policing, reduces unnecessary dangers for officers, and results in better public safety for Minneapolis.

Still, the federal findings go beyond that of the state, given the DOJ enforces federal law — their findings also highlight that MPD violated people’s First Amendment and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for service.

“The findings that the Department of Justice made, it could be that they had additional evidence on some areas of the law, that perhaps the state investigators weren’t able to acquire that evidence, or didn’t make those same findings,” Gunston said.

She added that if the federal consent decree were not to take effect, the reform may not go as far.

MPD Chief Brian O’Hara also shared a statement.

Regardless of what happens with the DOJ consent decree, we do have a consent decree in place in state court that addresses all of the major topics covered in previous federal consent decrees: use of force, stop search and arrest, implicit bias, supervision and training.

We are making tremendous progress enhancing trust with our communities as we rebuild the MPD to be the standard for policing in America.

The city is set to spend more than $15 million to manage both the state and federal oversight, with another $13 million set for next year.

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Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis City Council introduces ordinance to combat homeless encampments

Published

12 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Minneapolis City Council introduces ordinance to combat homeless encampments

Minneapolis city council members have introduced ordinances to try and combat homeless encampments across the city.

They’re looking at cities like Denver, Colo., and Duluth, Minn., to get ideas on how to effectively combat homelessness in the city.

It’s an ongoing cycle in Minneapolis: a homeless encampment pops up, the city clears it and then another one emerges close by.

Minneapolis city council members are hoping to stop that pattern with a new effort.

“We want to pilot these to make sure they work correctly,” Jason Chavez, Minneapolis city council member, said.

Council members Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury and Aisha Chughtai are introducing Safe Outdoor Spaces and Safe Parking Spaces to provide a consistent place for those living in homelessness.

Chavez explained at the Nov. 14 full council meeting that the safe outdoor spaces could be tiny homes, structured pods or tents and parking lots where the homeless community could legally park overnight.

“There’s safe parking like in Duluth, which is seasonal, where someone can park their car overnight and get services and meals from a provider,” Chavez said.

The location of these spaces would be city-owned or on non-profit land, if they want to help.

Crabtree said a solution is long overdue, but this could help.

“I think that it is definitely a piece of the continuum of care that we need to be providing in our city,” Crabtree said. “I think that would be a great step. It’s certainly not everything, but it’s something.”

Crabtree explained affordable housing is the permanent solution, but what’s available now is still not affordable for everyone.

The next step is to officially draft ordinances related to these efforts.

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Minneapolis, MN

MN weather: Snow totals from Wednesday

Published

20 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A blast of wintry weather Wednesday dumped an inch or less of snow across the Twin Cities metro.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport saw about 0.75 inches of snow, with some areas seeing slightly more where it snowed for most of the day. Meanwhile, western Minnesota saw 1–4 inches, with higher snow totals closer to North Dakota.

Snow totals from Wednesday’s storm

Snow at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum on Nov. 20, 2024. (FOX 9)

Here’s a look at snow totals across the state from Wednesday’s snow:

Moorhead: 3.8 inches
Grand Forks, North Dakota: 3 inches
Warren: 2 inches
Kimball: 2 inches
St. Cloud: 1.9 inches
Waseca: 1.5 inches
Maple Plain: 1.5 inches
Chanhassen: 1.3 inches
Watertown: 1 inch
MSP Airport: 0.75 inches
White Bear Lake: 0.5 inches

Note: This story will be updated as snow totals are confirmed.

Snow led to slick roads Wednesday, Thursday morning

WEATHER FORECAST: Gray, windy and dry on Thursday

Roads remain slick following Wednesday’s snow

FOX 9’s Bill Keller is monitoring slick road conditions Thursday morning, following overnight freezing temperatures and snowfall from Wednesday.

The snow started in the Twin Cities before sunrise on Wednesday when air temperatures started to dip below freezing, but the roads were in pretty good shape until the evening commute.

This is because the freeze/thaw cycle for soil is delayed by air temperature. It takes a while for the ground to catch up to colder air temperatures, especially during daylight.

Multi-vehicle crash in Burnsville: Traffic cameras

MnDOT traffic cameras captured a multi-vehicle crash in Burnsville around midnight on the Interstate 35W bridge over the Minnesota River. The driver of an SUV had already spun out when two other drivers lost control and spun across the ice, before they all collided.

Well, after several plus hours of sub-freezing air temperatures on Wednesday, the ground started to freeze. Add a snowy burst for a few hours around and over the evening commute as that is occurring, and that spells accumulating snow on our roadways and some slippery conditions.

MN weather: Gray and windy day Thursday

Temperatures return to above freezing in the Twin Cities metro on Thursday, though it will be rather windy with gusts topping out at 40 mph. FOX 9 meteorologist Cody Matz has your forecast.

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