By Teri Knight, News Director
The Northfield Council called for a public hearing on Franchise Fees. The Council has struggled for years over street assessments. Administrator Martig explained, “the process is extremely complex, long and expensive. So there are many hearing and public meeting processes, we have a lot of advertising and notices that go out, the appraisals can be quite expensive”. For reference, the League of MN Cities has a guide on this type of assessment process that’s over a hundred pages long. It also takes up a lot of staff time, contributing to the expense. There is no perfect method. The utility franchise fee attaches a fee to
your gas and electric bill for all property owners, including tax exempt to go into a fund to pay for city roadwork. An assessment will typically cost the taxpayer $6800 if they paid in full up front, the franchise fee will cost about $5.50 per month on your Xcel bill. There were three options, C. Zweifel moved Option C which adds $100,000 per year for dollars to fund the Council’s climate goals which also includes trails. Martig said, “it could be things like investing in renewable energy sources for city buildings, it could be fleet upgrades to go for non-gas emission related vehicles”. As well as tree planting and more. This option is about $66 a year instead of $61.50 for the average user, that equates to approximately a 4% increase on your electric and 5% on your gas bill. Martig said, “by spreading it out over time, it’s much lower cost to people on an annual basis from a residential standpoint”. Commercial businesses would pay about $198 with Option C. The vote was 4 to 3 in favor of Option C. The public hearing will take place on November 10th. Should a franchise fee resolution pass, it would take 2 readings. As for those who have recent assessments, Martig said, “so if you’re still paying for it over time, the idea would be is you’d be rebated back on any franchise fee at the end of the year. We can’t forgive past assessments under the law”. The Council has considered if there’s something they can do for those who recently paid in full. That has yet to be fleshed out. They also discussed ways in which the public could comment during the meeting. Martig’s full interview is HERE. Presentation from Administrator Martig: Northfield – Franchise Fee Update – 10.20.2020 Council Update FINAL2
Snow Emergency through tomorrow
The City of Northfield remains under a Snow Emergency through 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. That means no parking on any city street until it is plowed curb-to-curb. Vehicles parked on the street will be ticketed with the potential of being towed during a snow emergency. Trash and recycling bins are not allowed on city streets. Complete information, including when parking lots will be plowed is HERE.
Turn to KYMN for local Election news
KYMN’s Political Correspondent Logan Wells has continued to update KYMN’s Election Guide. Yesterday’s interviews with Mayoral candidates David Ludescher and Rhonda Pownell are now online. District 20b candidate Joe Moravchik was on the air with Jeff Johnson this morning. His interview is online. District 20 candidate Jon Olson will be on the air Friday morning at 8:45am. KYMN will also keep you up to date with LOCAL information on Election Night. Click on the Election Guide button in the upper left hand corner or our website.
