Minnesota Legislature
Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 1995, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 236-S.F.No. 281
An act relating to metropolitan government; removing a
provision for a compensation recommendation;
clarifying language and changing obsolete references;
amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, sections 15A.082,
subdivision 3; 275.066; 473.121, subdivision 11;
473.13, subdivisions 1 and 2; 473.164, subdivision 3;
473.375, subdivisions 9 and 13; 473.385, subdivision
2; 473.386, subdivisions 1, 2, and 5; 473.388,
subdivision 4; 473.39, subdivision 1b; 473.446,
subdivision 8; 473.448; 473.505; 473.595, subdivision
3; and Laws 1994, chapter 628, article 2, section 5;
repealing Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.394.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 15A.082,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Subd. 3. [SUBMISSION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.] (a) By May 1 in
each odd-numbered year, the compensation council shall submit to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
the senate salary recommendations for constitutional officers,
legislators, justices of the supreme court, and judges of the
court of appeals, district court, county court, and county
municipal court. The recommended salary for each office must
take effect on the first Monday in January of the next
odd-numbered year, with no more than one adjustment, to take
effect on January 1 of the year after that. The salary
recommendations for legislators, judges, and constitutional
officers take effect if an appropriation of money to pay the
recommended salaries is enacted after the recommendations are
submitted and before their effective date. Recommendations may
be expressly modified or rejected. The salary recommendations
for legislators are subject to additional terms that may be
adopted according to section 3.099, subdivisions 1 and 3.
(b) The council shall also submit to the speaker of the
house of representatives and the president of the senate
recommendations for the salary ranges of the heads of state and
metropolitan agencies, to be effective retroactively from
January 1 of that year if enacted into law. The recommendations
shall include the appropriate group in section 15A.081 to which
each agency head should be assigned and the appropriate
limitation on the maximum range of the salaries of the agency
heads in each group, expressed as a percentage of the salary of
the governor.
(c) The council shall also submit to the speaker of the
house of representatives and the president of the senate
recommendations for the salaries of members of the metropolitan
council.
Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 275.066, is
amended to read:
275.066 [SPECIAL TAXING DISTRICTS; DEFINITION.]
For the purposes of property taxation and property tax
state aids, the term "special taxing districts" includes the
following entities:
(1) watershed districts under chapter 103D;
(2) sanitary districts under sections 115.18 to 115.37;
(3) regional sanitary sewer districts under sections 115.61
to 115.67;
(4) regional public library districts under section
134.201;
(5) park districts under chapter 398;
(6) regional railroad authorities under chapter 398A;
(7) hospital districts under sections 447.31 to 447.38;
(8) St. Cloud metropolitan transit commission under
sections 458A.01 to 458A.15;
(9) Duluth transit authority under sections 458A.21 to
458A.37;
(10) regional development commissions under sections
462.381 to 462.398;
(11) housing and redevelopment authorities under sections
469.001 to 469.047;
(12) port authorities under sections 469.048 to 469.068;
(13) economic development authorities under sections
469.090 to 469.1081;
(14) metropolitan council under sections 473.122 to 473.249
473.549;
(15) regional transit board under sections 473.371 to
473.449;
(16) metropolitan airports commission under sections
473.601 to 473.680;
(17) (16) metropolitan mosquito control commission under
sections 473.701 to 473.716;
(18) (17) Morrison county rural development financing
authority under Laws 1982, chapter 437, section 1;
(19) (18) Croft Historical Park District under Laws 1984,
chapter 502, article 13, section 6;
(20) (19) East Lake county medical clinic district under
Laws 1989, chapter 211, sections 1 to 6;
(21) (20) Floodwood area ambulance district under Laws
1993, chapter 375, article 5, section 39; and
(22) (21) any other political subdivision of the state of
Minnesota, excluding counties, school districts, cities, and
towns, that has the power to adopt and certify a property tax
levy to the county auditor, as determined by the commissioner of
revenue.
Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.121,
subdivision 11, is amended to read:
Subd. 11. [INDEPENDENT COMMISSION, BOARD OR AGENCY.]
"Independent commission, board or agency" means governmental
entities with jurisdictions lying in whole or in part within the
metropolitan area but not including agencies that are subject to
the requirements of section 473.161.
Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.13,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [BUDGET.] (a) On or before December 20 of
each year the council, after the public hearing required in
section 275.065, shall adopt a final budget covering its
anticipated receipts and disbursements for the ensuing year and
shall decide upon the total amount necessary to be raised from
ad valorem tax levies to meet its budget. The budget shall
state in detail the expenditures for each program to be
undertaken, including the expenses for salaries, consultant
services, overhead, travel, printing, and other items. The
budget shall state in detail the capital expenditures of the
council for the budget year, based on a five-year capital
program adopted by the council and transmitted to the
legislature. After adoption of the budget and no later than
five working days after December 20, the council shall certify
to the auditor of each metropolitan county the share of the tax
to be levied within that county, which must be an amount bearing
the same proportion to the total levy agreed on by the council
as the net tax capacity of the county bears to the net tax
capacity of the metropolitan area. The maximum amount of any
levy made for the purpose of this chapter may not exceed the
limits set by sections 473.167 and 473.249 the statute
authorizing the levy.
(b) Each even-numbered year the council shall prepare for
its transit programs a financial plan for the succeeding three
calendar years, in half-year segments. The financial plan must
contain the elements specified in section 473.1623, subdivision
3. The financial plan must contain schedules of user charges
and any changes in user charges planned or anticipated by the
council during the period of the plan. The financial plan must
contain a proposed request for state financial assistance for
the succeeding biennium.
(c) In addition, the budget must show for each year:
(1) the estimated operating revenues from all sources
including funds on hand at the beginning of the year, and
estimated expenditures for costs of operation, administration,
maintenance, and debt service;
(2) capital improvement funds estimated to be on hand at
the beginning of the year and estimated to be received during
the year from all sources and estimated cost of capital
improvements to be paid out or expended during the year, all in
such detail and form as the council may prescribe; and
(3) the estimated source and use of pass-through funds.
Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.13,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [LEVIES.] The auditor of each metropolitan county
shall add the amount of any levy made by the council within the
limits imposed by subdivision 1 this chapter to other tax levies
imposed within the county for collection by the county treasurer
with other taxes. When collected the county treasurer shall
make settlement of the taxes with the council in the same manner
as other taxes are distributed to political subdivisions. The
levy authorized by this section is in addition to any other
taxes levied within the county authorized by law.
Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.164,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Subd. 3. At the conclusion of each budget year, the
council, in cooperation with each commission, shall adopt a
final statement of costs incurred by the council for each
commission or board. Where costs incurred in the budget year
have exceeded the amount budgeted, each commission shall
transfer to the council the additional moneys needed to pay the
amount of the costs in excess of the amount budgeted, and shall
include a sum in its next budget. Any excess of budgeted costs
over actual costs may be retained by the council and applied to
the payment of budgeted costs in the next year.
Sec. 7. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.375,
subdivision 9, is amended to read:
Subd. 9. [ADVISORY COMMITTEES.] The board council may
establish one or more advisory committees composed of and
representing transit providers, transit users, and local units
of government to advise it in carrying out its purposes. The
members of advisory committees serve without compensation.
Sec. 8. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.375,
subdivision 13, is amended to read:
Subd. 13. [FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.] The council may provide
financial assistance to other public transit providers as
provided in sections 473.371 to 473.449. The council may not
use the proceeds of bonds issued under section 473.39 to provide
capital assistance to private, for-profit operators of public
transit, unless the operators provide service under a contract
with the council, the former regional transit board, or
recipients of financial assistance under sections 473.371 to
473.449.
No political subdivision within the metropolitan area may
apply for federal transit assistance unless its application has
been submitted to and approved by the council.
Sec. 9. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.385,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [SERVICE AREAS.] The council may provide
financial assistance (whether directly or through another
entity) to private, for-profit operators of public transit only
for the following services:
(1) services that are not regular route services;
(2) regular route services provided on June 2, 1989, by a
private, for-profit operator under contract with the council
former regional transit board or under a certificate of
convenience and necessity issued by the transportation
regulation board;
(3) regular route services outside of the fully developed
service area that are not operated on June 2, 1989, by the
council former metropolitan transit commission;
(4) regular route services provided under section 473.388;
(5) regular route services to recipients who, as part of a
negotiated cost-sharing arrangement with the council, pay at
least 50 percent of the cost of the service that directly
benefits the recipient as an institution or organization; or
(6) regular route services that will not be operated for a
reasonable subsidy by the council.
Sec. 10. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.386,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [SERVICE OBJECTIVES.] The council shall
implement a special transportation service, as defined in
section 174.29, in the metropolitan area. The service has the
following objectives:
(a) to provide greater access to transportation for the
elderly, handicapped people with disabilities, and others with
special transportation needs in the metropolitan area;
(b) to develop an integrated system of special
transportation service providing transportation tailored to meet
special individual needs in the most cost-efficient manner; and
(c) to use existing public, private, and private nonprofit
providers of service wherever possible, to supplement rather
than replace existing service, and to increase the productivity
of all special transportation vehicles available in the area.
Sec. 11. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.386,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [SERVICE CONTRACTS; MANAGEMENT; TRANSPORTATION
ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE.] (a) The council may contract
for services necessary for the provision of special
transportation. Transportation service provided under a
contract must specify the service to be provided, the standards
that must be met, and the rates for operating and providing
special transportation services.
(b) The council shall establish management policies for the
service and may contract with a service administrator for
day-to-day administration and management of the service. Any
contract must delegate to the service administrator clear
authority to administer and manage the delivery of the service
pursuant to council management policies and must establish
performance and compliance standards for the service
administrator. The council may provide directly day to day
administration and management of the service and may own or
lease vehicles used to provide the service.
(c) The metropolitan council shall review and approve the
council's proposed action under paragraph (a) or (b).
(d) The council shall ensure that the service administrator
establishes a system for registering and expeditiously
responding to complaints by users, informing users of how to
register complaints, and requiring providers to report on
incidents that impair the safety and well-being of users or the
quality of the service. The council shall annually report to
the commissioner of transportation and the legislature on
complaints and provider reports, the response of the service
administrator, and steps taken by the council and the service
administrator to identify causes and provide remedies to
recurring problems.
(e) (d) Each year before renewing contracts with providers
and the service administrator, the council shall provide an
opportunity for the transportation accessibility advisory
committee, users, and other interested persons to testify before
the council concerning providers, contract terms, and other
matters relating to board council policies and procedures for
implementing the service.
(f) (e) The council shall establish a transportation
accessibility advisory committee. The transportation
accessibility advisory committee must include elderly and
handicapped disabled persons, other users of special
transportation service, representatives of persons contracting
to provide special transportation services, and representatives
of appropriate agencies for elderly and handicapped disabled
persons to advise the council on management policies for the
service. At least half the transportation accessibility
advisory committee members must be disabled or elderly persons
or the representatives of disabled or elderly persons. Two of
the appointments to the transportation accessibility advisory
committee shall be made by the council on disability in
consultation with the chair of the regional transit
board metropolitan council.
Sec. 12. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.386,
subdivision 5, is amended to read:
Subd. 5. [EQUITABLE ALLOCATION AND ANNUAL REALLOCATION.]
The council shall distribute all available funding under this
section in a manner designed to achieve an equitable allocation
of special transportation services based on the proportion of
the number of elderly, handicapped, disabled, or economically
disadvantaged individuals with special transportation needs who
actually use the special transportation service.
Sec. 13. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.388,
subdivision 4, is amended to read:
Subd. 4. [FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.] The council may grant the
requested financial assistance if it determines that the
proposed service is intended to replace the service to the
applying city or town or combination thereof by the council and
that the proposed service will meet the needs of the applicant
at least as efficiently and effectively as the existing service.
The amount of assistance which the council may provide
under this section may not exceed the sum of:
(a) the portion of the available local transit funds which
the applicant proposes to use to subsidize the proposed service;
and
(b) an amount of financial assistance bearing an identical
proportional relationship to the amount under clause (a) as the
total amount of financial assistance to funds used by the
council to fund its transit operations bears to the total amount
of taxes collected by the council under section 473.446. The
council shall pay the amount to be provided to the recipient
from the assistance funds the council would otherwise pay to the
council use to fund its transit operations.
For purposes of this section "available local transit funds"
means 90 percent of the tax revenues which would accrue to the
council from the tax it levies under section 473.446 in the
applicant city or town or combination thereof.
For purposes of this section, "tax revenues" in the city or
town means the sum of the following:
(1) the nondebt spread levy, which is the total of the
taxes extended by application of the local tax rate for nondebt
purposes on the taxable net tax capacity;
(2) the portion of the fiscal disparity distribution levy
under section 473F.08, subdivision 3, attributable to nondebt
purposes; and
(3) the portion of the homestead credit and agricultural
credit aid and disparity reduction aid amounts under section
273.1398, subdivisions 2 and 3, attributable to nondebt purposes.
Tax revenues do not include the state feathering
reimbursement under section 473.446.
Sec. 14. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.39,
subdivision 1b, is amended to read:
Subd. 1b. [OBLIGATIONS; 1993-1996.] The council may also
issue certificates of indebtedness, bonds, or other obligations
under this section in an amount not exceeding $62,000,000, of
which $44,000,000 may be used for council transit for fleet
replacement, transit facilities, and transit capital equipment,
and $18,000,000 may be used for transit hubs, park-and-ride
lots, community-based transit vehicles and replacement service
program vehicles, intelligent vehicle highway systems projects,
and other capital expenditures as prescribed in
the implementation and council's transit capital plans of the
board improvement program, and related costs including the cost
of issuance and sale of the obligations. The council may issue
$32,000,000 of the total amount authorized under this
subdivision during fiscal biennium ending 1993, $30,000,000
during fiscal biennium ending 1995. For the purposes of this
subdivision, uniforms are not capital expenditures.
Sec. 15. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.446,
subdivision 8, is amended to read:
Subd. 8. [STATE REVIEW.] The commissioner of revenue shall
certify the council's levy limitation under this section to the
council by August 1 of the levy year. The council must certify
its proposed property tax levy under this section to the
commissioner of revenue by August September 1 of the levy year.
The commissioner of revenue shall annually determine whether the
property tax for general transit purposes certified by the
council for levy following the adoption of its proposed budget
is within the levy limitation imposed by subdivision 1. The
commissioner shall also annually determine whether the transit
tax imposed on all taxable property within the metropolitan
transit area but outside of the metropolitan transit taxing
district is within the levy limitation imposed by subdivision
1a. The determination must be completed prior to September 10
of each year. If current information regarding market valuation
in any county is not transmitted to the commissioner in a timely
manner, the commissioner may estimate the current market
valuation within that county for purposes of making the
calculations.
Sec. 16. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.448, is
amended to read:
473.448 [COUNCIL; EXEMPTION FROM TAXATION.]
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
the properties, moneys, and other assets of the council, used
for transit operations or for special transportation services
and all revenues or other income of from the council council's
transit operations or special transportation services shall be
exempt from all taxation, licenses, fees, or charges of any kind
imposed by the state or by any county, municipality, political
subdivision, taxing district, or other public agency or body of
the state.
Sec. 17. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.505, is
amended to read:
473.505 [TOTAL WATERSHED MANAGEMENT.]
The commission with the approval of the metropolitan
council may enter into agreements with other governmental bodies
and agencies and spend funds to implement total watershed
management. "Total watershed management" means identifying and
quantifying at a watershed level the (1) sources of pollution,
both point and nonpoint, (2) causes of conditions that may or
may not be a result of pollution, and (3) means of reducing
pollution or alleviating adverse conditions. The purpose of
total watershed management is to achieve the best water quality
for waters of the state receiving the effluent of the
metropolitan disposal system for the lowest total costs, without
regard to who will incur those costs.
Sec. 18. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.595,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Subd. 3. [BUDGET PREPARATION; REVIEW AND APPROVAL.] The
commission shall prepare a proposed budget by August 1 of each
year. The budget shall include operating revenues and
expenditures for operation, administration, and maintenance. In
addition, the budget must show for each year:
(a) The estimated operating revenues from all sources
including funds on hand at the beginning of the year, and
estimated expenditures for costs of operation, administration,
maintenance, and debt service;
(b) Capital improvement funds estimated to be on hand at
the beginning of the year and estimated to be received during
the year from all sources and estimated cost of capital
improvements to be paid out or expended during the year; all in
such detail and form as the council may prescribe; and
(c) The estimated source and use of pass-through funds.
As early as practicable before August 15 of each year, the
commission shall hold a public hearing on a draft of the
proposed budget. Along with the draft, the commission shall
publish a report on user charges. The report must include an
estimate and analysis of the changes in user charges, rates, and
fees that will be required by the commission's budget. Not less
than 14 days before the hearing, the commission shall publish
notice of the hearing in a newspaper having general circulation
in the metropolitan area, stating the date, time, and place of
hearing, and the place where the proposed budget and report on
user charges may be examined by any interested person.
Following the hearing, the commission shall publish a report of
the hearing that summarizes the comments received and the
agency's commission's response. The council shall approve or
disapprove the entire budget by October 1 of each year. Before
December 15 of each year, the commission shall by resolution
adopt a final budget. The commission shall file its final
budget with the council on or before December 20 of each year.
The council shall file the budgets with the secretary of the
senate and the clerk of the house of representatives not later
than January 1 of each year.
Except in an emergency, for which procedures must be
established by the agency commission, the commission and its
officers, agents, and employees may not spend money for any
purpose, other than debt service, without an appropriation by
the commission, and no obligation to make such an expenditure
shall be enforceable except as the obligation of the person or
persons incurring it. The creation of any debt obligation or
the receipt of any federal or state grant is a sufficient
appropriation of the proceeds for the purpose for which it is
authorized, and of the tax or other revenues pledged to pay the
obligation and interest on it whether or not specifically
included in any annual budget. After obtaining approval of the
council, if required under subdivision 2, the agency commission
may amend the budget at any time by transferring any
appropriation from one purpose to another, except appropriations
of the proceeds of bonds issued for a specific purpose.
Sec. 19. Laws 1994, chapter 628, article 2, section 5, is
amended to read:
Sec. 5. [APPLICATION.]
This article Laws 1994, chapter 628, article 2, applies in
the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott,
and Washington.
Sec. 20. [INSTRUCTIONS TO REVISOR.]
The revisor of statutes shall change headnote references to
"regional transit board," or "transit board" or "board" as they
refer to the regional transit board; "metropolitan waste control
commission," or "waste control commission" or "commission" as
they refer to the metropolitan waste control commission; and
"metropolitan transit commission," or "transit commission" or
"commission" as they refer to the metropolitan transit
commission; to "metropolitan council" or "council," where
appropriate, in Minnesota Statutes 1996, and subsequent editions
of the statutes.
Sec. 21. [REPEALER.]
Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 473.394, is repealed.
Sec. 22. [APPLICATION.]
This act applies in the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota,
Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.
Sec. 23. [EFFECTIVE DATES.]
Sections 1 to 18, and 20 to 22 are effective the day after
final enactment. Section 19 is effective retroactively to July
1, 1994.
Presented to the governor May 30, 1995
Signed by the governor June 1, 1995, 11:22 a.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes