07-11-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 27, 2022 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 11 time allocation of $246,000,000 in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and his office convened listening sessions with mayors, legislators, school leaders, and small business owners, as well as receiving responses from an online survey. The message heard from residents was that they wanted the County to balance short-term emergency pandemic response with smart, longer-term investments to build a better future. Housing stability, public safety, and supporting small businesses rose to the top of the list. Mr. LaTondresse noted this region faces an intersecting crisis of homelessness and affordability made worse by the pandemic. Hennepin County has assisted 5,800 households with more than $48,000,000 in one-time emergency rental assistance dollars. While these funds offered a lifeline in a time of crisis, it is not a sustainable or permanent solution. With the ARPA dollars, Hennepin County is going big on long-term housing stability with a historic $91,000,000 investment with the goal to help 1,000 homeless residents and create 2,000 new, affordable housing units. Last year through the annual HRA grants program the County invested $17,100,000 supporting 1,550 affordable units including several District 6 projects. Regarding public safety, in 2021 they approved the Hennepin County Sherriff’s office request for 31 new deputies to fill gaps in serving critical areas of need, approved $8,200,000 to expand the North Metro Public Training Facility in Maple Grove. They have also expanded embedded social workers to eight new police departments with 22 social workers in 23 departments serving 35 cities within the County. In 2023 Orono will join this coalition and it is a very promising partnership. Mr. LaTondresse noted fully recovering from the pandemic means supporting small businesses, the backbone of the community, and the County has provided nearly $70,000,000 through CARES and ARPA in grants to small businesses, and established Elevate Business Hennepin County. The Hennepin County Public Works Team wants to include a list of current and future County transportation projects slated in Orono, and Mr. LaTondresse shared his personal gratitude for the great collaboration between Hennepin County and Orono that has made these improvements possible. Mayor Walsh noted one of the biggest concerns is the upcoming budget with the increase in property values which is positive on one hand, and dependent upon the seven people who will vote on the budget which directly correlates to the increase in the levy. He asked Mr. LaTondresse about it. Mr. LaTondresse replied as part of the Minnesota Statute, Hennepin County is required to assess the total value of property in Hennepin County on an annual basis and report that to residents. This is the baseline/basis against which Hennepin County and other local taxing jurisdictions use to set the levy. Like Orono, Hennepin County basically says “we collected X last year and we need to collect Y percentage more” and take that from the total increased value of properties. The levy process will kick off around the same time as Orono in setting the maximum levy; in going back two years they set a zero levy which is an anomaly, and the previous year they set a 3.5% levy (he did not support colleagues who wanted to go as high as 5%). He stated it would be irresponsible right now to commit to exactly what he is willing to set it at, but gives the Council some sense about how he thinks about the topic. Mayor Walsh noted part of the quandary, like any other City or County, is if the levy increases by 3% the next year because of the high increase in property values this year, they will have a slow down or recession with prices going down 10%. Now they must start cutting costs because they do not have enough money coming in.