Prior to 2018, the EDA has routinely received a transfer from the General Fund in order to fund operations, façade loans and other development related activities.  In essence these prior transfers from the General Fund came from a portion of the city's tax levy. The EDA special benefit levy is considered a budget neutral change as the city's general levy no longer includes this transfer to the EDA.  

In 1995, the Shakopee Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) transferred its authority to the Shakopee EDA via Resolution No. 4206. This action allows the EDA to levy a separate tax or "Special Benefit Levy", which is not part of the city's general property tax levy. This EDA special benefit levy is subject to a limit of 0.0185 percent of the city's estimated market value. The EDA levy cap for 2019 is estimated to be $834,400. 

The advantage of the EDA special benefit levy is that the levy is applied to the market value of all taxable properties within the city including properties that are currently part of a tax abatement or TIF plan. The EDA levy is also identified on property tax statements as a separate local tax outside of the city's general property tax. 

Staff is recommending an EDA preliminary special benefit levy of $350,000 for collection in 2019. This is the same levy amount as the current year. 

State Statutes require the consent of the City Council, prior to the tax levy becoming effective. The EDA preliminary special benefit levy will be certified to the County Auditor by deadline of October 1, 2018. In addition, the City Council may determine to decrease the Authority's levy when finalizing the city's levy for 2019.  

Also, attached is a 2019 preliminary EDA budget. The EDA budget will be reviewed in further detail as part of the overall city budget later this year. The budget includes $190,500 for wages and benefits which includes the Economic Development Specialist plus a portion of the Planning & Development Director's time. The EDA budget also includes $100,000 for façade loan requests and $25,000 for the Main Street Program.