What is the outcome of the Moline parking ramp settlement? How does it affect the budget? What documents are available online?

The outcome of the Moline parking ramp settlement was presented at the December 17 City Council Meeting. That presentation is available online here and documents are available here.

To summarize: The City of Hopkins, and the Hopkins HRA, agreed to issue an additional TIF Note for $8 million and extend the duration of the TIF District from 15 to 25 years. The obligation will be paid from TIF generated from the new property value created by the Moline development. The developer, Doran Companies, will retain ownership of the parking ramp.

The Moline parking ramp settlement will not directly affect any budget or tax levy in the near term. The City’s tax levy is divided among all properties based on taxable market value, which does not include value created in tax increment financing (TIF) districts. However, property in TIF Districts do pay taxes on the base value (the value of the property before redevelopment). Because the redevelopment would not have happened but for the use of TIF, the real impact on taxable market value is in the normal increase the base property value would have experienced due to inflation and market value increases of the previous office/warehouse development. The City acknowledges, however, that the settlement results in the City of Hopkins being able to capture the increased property taxes later than originally planned.

Even though the duration of the TIF district was extended from 15 to 25 years, based on projections, with very modest inflation (two percent), the district will have the obligations paid off in 21 years. If we use more of a historical, but yet conservative inflation of four percent, all obligations would be paid off in 18 years.

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1. How many departments prepare a budget?
2. Where do multi-use paths fall within the budget and can that be shown as its own line item?
3. What opportunities will there be to comment on the preliminary budget after it is approved in September?
4. Why does the Truth in Taxation hearing occur so late in the budget process?
5. Does the city use a top-down or bottom-up budget process?
6. Do departments receive any instructions on how to prepare budgets? Who set the instructions?
7. Did or could you consider a Fiscal Advisory Committee made up of residents?
8. When will the 2020 Budget document be posted online?
9. When do you plan to update the Financial Management plan for the next five years?
10. Does the Hopkins compare itself with other Cities?
11. Why does the City issue debt?
12. Will revenue considerations that affect decisions on the upcoming zoning changes be made?
13. Commercial property bring in more revenue, is the city focusing on them over residential apartment buildings?
14. What is the outcome of the Moline parking ramp settlement? How does it affect the budget? What documents are available online?