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Description
Mayor Tim Busse digs into City Budget numbers and explains the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry and Bloomington residents.
A
Last
week
the
City
Council
got
a
preliminary
look
from
city
staff
at
how
the
Kovach
crisis
was
going
to
impact
the
city's
budget
this
year
next
year
and
in
the
following
years.
Let
me
say
this
about
what
we
heard:
it's
a
lot
of
information
to
process
and
for
a
resident
watching
that
meeting
who
is
not
as
familiar
as
the
council
is
with
the
background
on
the
budget
and
the
numbers.
A
It
was
probably
a
little
hard
to
follow
and
on
top
of
that,
Minnesota
has
one
of
the
most
complicated
tax
systems
in
the
country
which
doesn't
make
any
of
it
easier
to
understand
so
I'm
gonna
try
and
break
it
down
a
little
bit.
More
Bloomington
is
fortunate
to
have
one
of
the
strongest
tax
bases
in
the
state
of
Minnesota.
The
city
has
worked
hard
over
many
decades
to
grow
our
commercial
and
industrial
areas.
City
businesses,
in
fact,
Bloomington,
is
one
of
the
only
cities
in
Minnesota
where
commercial
property
tax
is
50%
of
the
tax
base.
A
Residential
housing
makes
up
about
40%
of
the
tax
base.
In
other
words,
the
value
of
all
residential
homes
in
Bloomington
is
40%
of
the
total
property
value
of
the
community.
What
does
that
mean?
It
means
that
homeowners
have
a
smaller
share
of
the
property
tax
pie,
because
we
have
such
a
strong
commercial
tax
base.
That's
a
good
thing,
a
really
important
part
of
that
commercial
property
tax
base
is
the
Mall
of
America
and
the
47
hotels
in
our
community.
A
In
fact,
the
mall
and
the
hotels
are
about
15%
of
the
total
tax
base
and
because
I
know
the
question
often
comes
up.
Yes,
the
mall
is
fully
on
the
tax
rolls
and
paying
its
fair
share
of
taxes,
so
the
property
tax
from
the
Mall
of
America
is
going
to
the
city,
Bloomington
schools
and
the
county
and
the
state.
Now,
in
addition
to
property
taxes,
the
hotels
and
moa
are
good
for
the
city
because
they
provide
other
revenues.
A
Every
bloomington
hotel
remits,
a
lodging
tax
per
room
per
night,
every
ticket
for
places
like
Nickelodeon,
Universe
and
flyover
America
at
Mall
of
America,
pays
an
admissions
tax,
the
bars
and
restaurants
in
those
hotels
and
at
MOA,
and
around
the
city
paid
liquor
tax.
All
of
those
special
use
taxes
help
offset
the
cost
to
taxpayers
for
city
services.
In
fact,
property
taxes
are
only
about
two-thirds
of
the
budget
for
city
services.
These
special
use
taxes
like
lodging
and
admissions
are
almost
13%
of
the
city
budget
and
they
directly
paid
for
city
services.
Very
few.
A
Other
cities
in
Minnesota
have
a
tax
base
as
strong
and
have
revenues
other
than
property
taxes
as
diverse
as
Bloomington
does,
and
that's
good
for
you
as
a
resident.
How
well
every
year,
when
we
are
looking
at
our
budget,
we
are
paying
attention
to
how
much
we
ask
residents
to
pay,
and
we
also
look
at
what
residents
in
other
cities
pay.
As
you
see
in
past
years,
you
see
that
Bloomington's
cost
for
monthly
services
is
near
the
lowest
cost
to
residents
for
a
median
value
home
compared
to
other
communities
in
2020.
A
The
low
monthly
cost
of
services
in
Bloomington
is
due
in
part
to
these
lodging
and
admissions
tax
revenues.
Now
I
know
that
people
are
careful
with
their
checkbooks
and
I've
always
felt
that
Bloomington
services
are
one
of
the
best
deals
around
from
median
valued
home,
a
home
whose
value
is
right
in
the
middle
of
all
homes
in
Bloomington,
the
cost
of
monthly
services,
unless
is
less
than
you
would
typically
pay
for
phone
internet
and
cable
from
Comcast.
A
That's
police
and
fire
services,
water
to
and
from
your
home,
safe
streets,
great
parks
and
so
much
more
look.
I
know
that
there
are
some
in
the
community
who
feel
our
taxes
are
too
high
in
Bloomington,
but
the
facts
say
something
different
and
providing
high
quality
of
life
at
a
very
reasonable
price
is
something
we've
been
proud
of
in
Bloomington
for
a
very
long
time.
So
that's
good
background.
When
we
start
talking
about
how
the
pandemic
is
affecting
Bloomington.
A
As
you
know,
the
need
to
stay
at
home
has
caused
the
economy
to
come
to
a
screeching
halt
in
Bloomington.
That
means
that
most
of
the
hotel
rooms
are
empty
in
the
Mall
of
America
is,
of
course,
closed
up
tight.
So
those
lodging
and
admission
taxes
that
I
just
talked
about
are
way
down.
Our
city
staff
is
looking
at
how
much
the
pandemic
will
affect
the
city's
revenues
and,
depending
on
how
long
the
shutdown
lasts,
and
how
long
it
takes
to
recover.
A
Our
finance
team
estimates
that
the
impact
is
somewhere
between
seven
and
eleven
million
dollars.
That's
out
of
a
budget
of
eighty
million
dollars.
Staff
is
also
looking
at
where
we
can
save
money
by
reducing
spending,
cancelling
programs
and
projects
and
keeping
facilities
closed
staff
has
shared
that
there
are
program,
costs
and
capital
expenses
of
about
two
million
dollars
that
can
be
reduced
immediately.
So
at
the
end
of
the
year,
there's
probably
going
to
be
a
shortfall
of
five
to
nine
million
dollars
and
I'm
optimistic
that
we
can
resolve
it.
A
We're
working
with
our
elected
officials
in
st.
Paul
in
Washington
DC
as
they
are
putting
together
relief
packages.
We
have
a
rainy
day
fund
budget
reserves
at
the
city,
for
emergencies
and
I
do
have
to
admit
I'd,
never
expected
we'd
see
a
storm
like
this.
My
colleagues
on
the
City,
Council
and
I
will
have
a
challenge
as
we
go
into
the
next
year's
budget
and
for
a
couple
of
years
after
that,
I
know
that
some
people
heard
the
presentation
from
our
city
manager
as
a
warning
that
property
taxes
were
going
to
go
through
the
roof.
A
Let
me
be
clear
about
this:
nobody
on
the
City
Council
or
on
the
city
staff
has
ever
said
that
a
huge
property
tax
increases.
That
is
the
way
that
we
solved
this
problem.
When
the
city
manager
talked
about
the
impact
on
a
residential
property
taxpayers,
he
was
talking
about
the
shift
in
the
tax
base.
That
is
likely
to
happen
in
the
next
couple
of
years,
as
commercial
values
may
go
down
every
year.
We
look
at
a
chart
like
this
one,
which
shows
how
the
tax
base
shifts
between
commercial
and
residential
value
every
year.
A
We
may
see
something
similar
to
what
happened
during
the
Great
Recession
ten
years
ago,
with
falling
property
values
except
ten
years
ago.
It
was
both
residential
and
commercial
values
that
fell.
If
you
were
a
homeowner
back,
then
you
remember
it
well
this
time
it
will
probably
happen
more
with
commercial
properties.
A
What
that
means
for
the
City
Council
is
that
we
will
have
to
continue
doing
our
careful
study
of
the
budget
just
like
we
do
every
year,
every
year
we
consider
what
services
you,
our
residents
value
and
what's
reasonable,
to
ask
you
to
pay
for
those
services.
We
will
do
the
same
going
forward.
So
let
me
quickly
touch
on
what
we're
doing
today
and
then
I
want
to
wrap
up
by
addressing
a
couple
of
things.
Very
specifically.
First
city
facilities
remain
closed
to
the
public
and
will
remain
closed
until
further.
A
At
the
council
meeting
on
April
20th
I've
asked
staff
to
bring
forward
a
decision
about
summer
recreation
programs,
as
well
as
an
outline
of
what
cost
reductions
we
should
expect
and
what
service
reductions
the
council
could
consider
in
the
meantime,
we're
going
to
trust
our
professional
staff
to
continue
keeping
things
going
as
smoothly
as
possible,
so
that
the
services
you
see
received
from
the
city
are
one
less
thing.
You
need
to
worry
about
right
now
and
I've
asked
our
staff
to
make
sure
they
continue
to
provide
clear
and
consistent
information
during
the
pandemic.
A
Having
good,
accurate
and
fact-based
information
is
essential
right
now.
Unfortunately,
I
know
that
social
media
is
not
always
the
best
place
to
get
that
kind
of
information.
So
I
just
want
to
take
a
moment
to
dispel
a
couple
of
whoppers
on
social
media
posted
by
people
who
want
you
to
believe
something
different
about
Bloomington
than
what
the
facts
would
say.
First,
for
the
past
couple
of
years,
some
people
have
been
upset
about
the
paved
trail
being
built
along
the
Minnesota
River
and
have
said
Bloomington
is
on
the
hook
for
most
of
the
cost.
A
That
is
simply
not
true,
that
is
a
state
of
Minnesota
funded
project.
The
trail
will
be
maintained
by
the
state
of
Minnesota.
There
isn't
a
dollar
of
Bloomington
money
in
that
project.
Some
folks
have
criticized
the
rehabilitation
of
the
old
cedar,
Avenue
bridge,
which
is
on
the
National
Register
of
Historic
Places,
again,
money
that
you
pay
for
city
services
did
not
go
into
that
project.
A
That
project
was
done
with
federal
and
state
dollars,
and
funds
from
the
tax
increment
district
in
the
South
Loop
around
Mall
of
America
and
recently
I've
heard
criticism
about
the
trail
along
France
Avenue.
Well,
that
is
a
Bloomington
project,
but
because
our
staff
is
very
good
at
finding
funding
for
these
kind
of
things,
less
than
1
million
of
the
nearly
6
million
dollar
project
cost
came
from
residents.
A
The
bloomington
funds
were
mostly
from
franchise
fees
on
gas
and
electric
bills,
which
were
put
in
place
several
years
ago,
specifically
to
maintain
and
build
our
trails
and
streets.
Here's
the
bottom
line,
friends:
we
are
all
going
through
something
that
will
redefine
us
as
a
society.
It's
far
too
early
to
know
how
we
will
be
different
or
what
our
economy
will
look
like,
or
exactly
how
your
local
government
needs
to
respond
to
get
things
back
to
normal.
What
we
do
know
is
that
time
will
come
in.
A
The
meanwhile
know
that
your
City
Council
members
will
continue
to
be
focused
on
making
sure
Bloomington
is
the
best
place.
It
can
be
that
it
remains
a
really
good
bargain
for
the
people
to
who
live
here
for
the
quality
of
life
you
expect
and
you
deserve,
and
that
we
are
providing
clear,
truthful
and
timely
information,
folks,
don't
get
sucked
into
the
vortex
of
social
media.