Development
What Can We Afford?
Northfield has 21,000 citizens. For property tax discussion, we have to drop that down to 15,000 because 30 percent of our citizens are college students (dorms) or seniors residents (retirement centers). The colleges and other non-profits do not pay property taxes.
This leaves homeowners and commercial property owners to pay for everything. And since our commercial/industrial physical tax base has been nearly stagnant for the last ten years, most of our out-of-control city spending increase has been funded by the residential property taxpayers.
Property tax is our only source of revenue – unless you count Local Government Aid from St. Paul which all cities in Minnesota receive. (Note: the school district has its own taxing authority.)
How much can we afford, when it comes to helping out developers?
Taxpayer money should not be used to support private development. Maybe a municipality can support upfront infrastructure costs (street & sewer). And there are code and similar restrictions which can be relaxed, if the developer makes the case. But government should not be picking winners & losers. A level-playing field is also rooted in our democracy.
Last Point: Government decisions affect the stakeholders. Before any plan is adopted, the interests of the affected businesses (office & retail) must be given considerable weight. This is especially true for downtown. We need a thriving downtown.
I support Peter for Northfield City Council representing the Third Ward. He’s practical and thoughtful; he has an interest of the city and it’s budgetary limitations, as well as the impact of higher taxes on those who cannot afford them; he has run his own business for many years and uses common sense in making business decisions. These are attributes which Northfield needs at this time.
Helen Preddy