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(Resolution #415, continued) <br />WHEREAS, the levy limits enacted by the Minnesota Legislature. and'the <br />price freeze and subsequent regulations enacted and proposed by the <br />Federal Government have reduced this municipality's capability and <br />opportunity of paying said costs; and <br />WHEREAS, the Village of Orono respectfully states that the Metropolitan <br />Sewer Board charges are subject to the price freeze and subsequent <br />regulations despite the possible recourse to the general levy because <br />billing for, tlios,e ,charges nece's,sarily involves user charges; and <br />WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Sewer Board and the Metropolitan Council have <br />the means available to them to remedy these inequities pursuant to <br />(a) procedures to correct errors, (b) statatory directives to consider <br />the factors described in this resolution, and (c) the statutory ability <br />to correct unreasonable or inequitable situations; and <br />WHEREAS,.the following are the particular factors that. cause the <br />allocationn of costs to the Viilage of Orono to be unreasonable, <br />inequitable, .up.fai.r, arbitrary and illegal: <br />1. The determination of the Village's reserve capacity is <br />based --upon an erroneous and excessive population estimate,A,current, <br />and realistic projection appears in the preliminary sewer plan prepared <br />by the Village, which reveals a substantially reduced population. estimate; <br />2. The determination of reserve capacity should reflect <br />reasonable population growth ratios and should be related to the past <br />history of population increase in this Village and a reasonable <br />expectation of continued growth rather than the unrealistically high <br />ratios presently proposed; <br />3. The whole metropolitan area obtains a benefit: from increased <br />population and the contributions made by new residents through the <br />payment of taxes and other moneys or activities by that new resident. <br />The entire metropolitan area should therefore bear the cost of planning <br />for metropolitan facilities needed to accommodate those new residents <br />whether they are city or suburban dwellers and whether those services <br />- <br />are transportation, housing, open space, or sewer capacity. Therefore <br />reserve capacity is a cost that should be spread throughout the entire <br />metropolitan area, not fortuitously placed on those communities that <br />are not fully developed through planning or by happenstance. <br />4. The Village of Orono presently faces,an unreasonable <br />cost burden which it cannot bear from the tax sources'availa.ble to it <br />because: - <br />(a) It faces an. inability to increase sewer -user charges as: <br />i. There are few users to absorb the cost; <br />-ii:' There are few= future users to bear this cost due to <br />the policy of the Village and the Metropolitan Council to <br />control-krowth,` to preserve open space, and to support a low- <br />density land use policy, which. has received. support through <br />recently enacted fiscal disparities legislation.; <br />iii.. The tax.freeze and regulations thereafter promulgated <br />restrict the capacity to increase user charges. <br />