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From YouTube: Council Minute July 28
Description
Mayor Tim Busse explains franchise fees approved by Council, how $11.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act will be distributed and 2022 Legislative requests.
A
Hello
bloomington,
I'm
mayor
tim
bussey,
and
this
is
the
council
minute
for
the
week
of
july
26th.
As
you
drive
around
bloomington
this
time
of
year,
you
see
a
lot
of
city
crews
working
on
our
streets.
Our
annual
pavement
management
program
includes
seal
coating,
overlays
and
reconstruction.
We
also
include
improvements
to
our
trail
system
in
the
pavement
management
program
each
year,
bloomington
spends
about
18
million
dollars,
maintaining
our
roads
and
our
trails
back
in
2015,
the
city
council
approved
franchise
fees
on
utility
bills,
paid
to
center
point
energy
and
excel
energy.
A
A
A
The
first
scheduled
increase
was
supposed
to
occur
at
the
beginning
of
2021,
but
we
made
a
decision
last
year
to
not
increase
fees
because
of
the
economic
impacts
of
the
pandemic,
but
the
needs
of
our
streets
and
the
trails
remain
so
the
council
decided
a
fee
increase,
couldn't
be
put
off
any
longer.
The
increase
to
the
franchise
fees
approved
this
week
is
an
increase
of
85
cents
per
month
to
each
of
the
utility
bills.
A
We
have
consistently
heard
from
residents
how
much
you
value
the
trail
system
here
in
bloomington,
as
we
plan
for
future
improvements,
we're
looking
at
how
trails
and
sidewalks
are
prioritized,
and
we
want
to
be
sure
that
our
investments
are
equitable
across
the
community,
knowing
that
we
have
resources
in
the
future.
To
do
this,
work
allows
us
to
meet
the
needs
of
our
community
today
and
tomorrow.
Earlier
this
year,
congress
passed
the
american
rescue
plan
act,
directing
much
needed
federal
dollars
to
states
and
local
governments.
A
Bloomington
will
receive
a
total
of
11.4
million
dollars,
and
this
week
the
city
manager
presented
recommendations
for
how
the
city
might
use
those
funds
before
making
recommendations.
City
staff
had
to
understand
the
rules
set
by
the
u.s
treasury
department
on
how
the
funds
could
be
spent
congress
and
the
president
want
to
be
sure
that
the
federal
dollars
are
getting
into
the
local
economies.
A
They
don't
allow
cities
to
just
put
the
money
in
reserve
funds
or
sock
the
money
and
weigh
in
a
rainy
day
account
the
recommendations
from
staff
are
an
appropriate
balance
of
funding
infrastructure
and
technology
for
core
city
services,
making
investments
in
public
health
and
public
safety
and
getting
funds
out
into
the
community
to
help
grow.
Businesses
increase
home
ownership,
assist
the
hospitality
industry
and
address
homelessness.
A
The
bulk
of
the
funds
about
six
million
dollars
will
go
toward
capital
improvement
projects
to
replace
critical
water
utility
infrastructure
and
to
make
necessary
improvements
to
city
facilities
such
as
a
roof
replacement
at
public
works.
Another
eight
hundred
thousand
dollars
will
go
toward
technology
and
the
biggest
chunk
of
that
money
will
be
used
to
finally
finish.
Our
fiber
communications
network
that
connects
city
facilities
about
1.7
million
dollars
will
go
toward
public
safety
and
public
health.
A
One
of
the
major
investments
there
will
allow
the
bloomington
fire
department
to
add
three
battalion
chiefs
and
pay
for
those
positions
over
the
next
three
years.
This
will
help
address
a
critical
staffing
need
to
make
sure
that
our
fire
department
can
continue
to
meet
our
goals
for
effective
response
time.
Another
half
million
dollars
will
go
to
bloomington
public
health
to
improve
their
outreach
and
client
services
to
build
our
data
management
system
and
add
a
community
health
worker.
We
will
also
be
directing
more
than
1.2
million
dollars
out
into
the
community.
A
That
money
will
establish
a
neighborhood
redevelopment
center
model
to
help
grow
small
and
minority
owned
businesses.
It
will
go
towards
the
city's
down
payment
assistance
program
which
helps
more
families,
move
into
home
ownership
and
funds
will
be
used
for
prevention
and
services
for
people
experiencing
homelessness.
A
Now
we
expect
it's
going
to
take
four
or
five
years
before
revenues.
Return
to
that
level,
so
helping
the
convention
and
visitors
bureau
get
the
hospitality
sector
moving
again
is
really
important
to
our
financial
health.
One
thing
I
want
to
be
clear
about
when
we're
talking
about
the
federal
funds.
These
are
one-time
dollars
and
the
majority
of
the
expenses
are
identified
as
one-time
expenses.
A
We
are
absolutely
grateful
for
these
funds
and
we
will
certainly
put
them
to
good
use
on
behalf
of
bloomington
and
we
will
continue
to
work
on
some
challenging
budget
issues
as
we
move
ahead.
I'll
share
more
about
the
budget
later
in
august,
when
the
city
council
begins
working
on
the
2022
city,
budgets
and
tax
levy.
Some
of
you
may
remember
a
couple
of
years
ago
way
back
in
2018
to
be
specific.
The
city
council
hosted
a
number
of
town
hall
forums
to
answer
questions
from
residents
and
to
talk
about
city
issues.
A
A
Other
city
facilities,
such
as
our
public
health
building,
the
public
works,
mechanics
garage
and
four
of
our
five
fire
stations
are
flat
out
outdated
and
are
in
need
of
replacement
in
total.
The
city's
capital
improvement
plan
over
the
next
five
years
includes
projects
equaling
more
than
360
million
dollars.
A
This
week,
the
council
and
staff
discussed
a
way
to
pay
for
a
number
of
these
projects
with
a
revenue
source
that
comes
mostly
from
non-residents
of
bloomington.
That
is
a
local
option.
Sales
tax,
a
lot
of
minnesota
cities
and
counties,
have
local
sales
taxes.
A
majority
of
them
are
in
greater
minnesota,
but
in
recent
years
the
legislature
has
given
more
cities
around
minnesota
the
permission
to
collect
a
local
option
sales
tax.
Just
last
month,
the
legislature
approved
a
local
sales
tax
for
edina,
maple
grove
and
oakdale.
A
State
law
says
those
projects
have
to
have
some
kind
of
regional
use
or
benefit,
and
it
also
requires
that
the
local
sales
tax
is
in
effect
only
for
the
time
it
takes
to
pay
for
those
projects,
so
it
doesn't
become
a
permanent
tax
and
importantly,
local
voters
have
to
approve
the
local
sales
tax
before
it
can
go
into
effect
now
before
deciding.
If
we
wanted
to
consider
a
local
sales
tax
in
bloomington
we
needed
to
get
some
information.
A
We
asked
the
university
of
minnesota
extension
service
to
figure
out
how
much
sales
taxes
generated
in
bloomington
and
how
much
bloomington
might
receive.
If
we
had
a
half
cent
local
sales
tax
in
place.
The
extension
service
told
us
that
a
local
option
sales
tax
would
generate
about
10.6
million
dollars
a
year,
but
even
more
interesting
is
that
the
study
showed
that
the
vast
majority
of
those
tax
revenues
about
75
percent
would
come
from
non-residents
of
bloomington.
A
We
have
a
long
way
to
go
before
deciding
whether
we
should
move
ahead.
Staff
will
be
working
over
the
next
couple
of
months
to
flesh
out
possible
projects
for
consideration,
so
we
have
a
better
idea
of
actual
costs.
We
will
also
need
to
start
discussing
this
with
our
legislative
delegation
to
see
if
they're
willing
to
support
a
request
from
the
city,
and
we
need
to
continue
to
provide
information
to
you.