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* Section 4: Findings and Policy Options Sections 1 through 3 of this report discuss general information on the current city road and bridge infrastructure, current finding mechanisms, and future funding challenges. This background information is critical to understanding the broad trends and policies that affect city policy makers as they strive to maintain and improve their transportation infrastructure while providing the best possible value to the taxpayer. In this section of the report, we attempt to identify and describe a handful of key findings that policy makers should be mindful of as they consider various transportation funding policy options, particularly as they relate to Minnesota city roads and bridges owned and maintained by Minnesota cities. The options presented in this section were the outcome of collaborative effort on the part of city staff and elected officials representing all of Minnesota ’s cities. A. All City Systems Findings: #A-1: Maintenance costs increase as road systems age. #A-2: Cities have implemented a variety of strategies to address the maintci unce funding gap- #A-3: Cities have become more reliant on property taxes and special assessments. #A-4: City bridges are in needs of repairs. MAS: Cities are often required to contribute to Mn/DOT and county road'County State Aid Highway projects located within city limits. Policy Options: 1. Provide funding for a "Local Road Improvement Program". 2. Provide cities greater flexibility to generate revenues through special assessments, 3. Provide cities with additional local taxing authority, including the authority to establish a “Transportation Utility”. 4. Enact legislation authoiizing cities to establish “Impact Fees”. B. Locally Funded City Streets • Cities Under 5,000 Findings: ^B-1: Most small cities are not spending enough on roadway capital improvements to maintain a 50 year life cycle. #B-2: Most small cities don ’t have a regul?’’. annual road budget. MB-3: Small cities are heavily reliant on locally generated revenues. fr'B-4: On the whole, small cities don ’t receive significant resources from other local units of government for “shared” projects. Policy Options: 1. Provide funding for a "Local Road Improvement Program", 2. Allocate a portion of the existing 5% special fund to cities under 5,000 population. 3. Allocate a portion of the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax revenues to a special fund for cities under 5,000 population. ! I