Glossary for Terms in In$ight St. Paul Reports
Debt load: The total amount of money owed by the City. It is often used in relation to the ability of the debtor to pay back the debt.
Deb Service: The total amount of money required to pay back the interest and principal debt obligations within a specific time period. It can be calculated for a month, year, or any other period.
Estimated Market Value (EMV): An estimate of how much properties in the City are valued based on what they would sell for in a competitive market.
Fiscal Disparities: A tax-base sharing program, known as the Fiscal Disparities Program. The size of the Twin Cities seven-county metro area it covers and the amount of commercial-industrial tax base shared make the program unique.
Fiscal note: Is a written estimate of the costs, savings, revenue gain, or revenue loss that may result from implementation of a bill or joint resolution. The note will identify staffing requirements, annual operating costs, and maintenance.
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): A unit of measurement used to compare the hours worked by employees or students to a full-time standard.
General Obligation (GO) bonds: A general obligation (GO) bond is a type of municipal bond that is issued by a state, city, or county to raise money for projects that are not expected to generate direct revenue. GO bonds are backed by the issuer’s “full faith and credit”, which means that the issuer can use tax revenues to pay back the bondholders and guaranteed by taxpayers of the City.
Homestead properties: A classification of property that is occupied by an owner or relative of the owner and is used as a primary place of residence.
Local Government Aid (LGA): A general purpose aid that can be used for any lawful expenditure. It is also intended to be used for property tax relief. The Department of Revenue certifies LGA for cities based on current LGA statutes, including any changes enacted during the most recent legislative session.
Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT): A payment made to compensate a government for some or all of the property tax revenue lost due to tax exempt ownership or use of real property.
Rent control: In Saint Paul it is also called the Rent Stabilization Ordinance that aims to address a shortage of affordable residential rental housing in the City, to ensure all residents have access to affordable housing. The Ordinance limited residential rent increases to no more than 3% in a 12-month period, however, there are exceptions. The Ordinance also directs the City to create a process for landlords to request an exception to the 3% limit based on the right to a reasonable return on investment.
Revenue bonds: A class of municipal bonds issued to fund public projects which then repay investors from the income created by that specific project.
Tax capacity: Represents the maximum tax revenue that a country can collect given its economic, social, institutional, and demographic characteristics.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF): A method Minnesota cities can use to provide direct financial assistance to private developers, to facilitate taxable development which would not otherwise be feasible without a public subsidy. For an under-developed, blighted area that is proposed to have new development, the City determines the existing Taxable Value for the project area, which is then designated a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. The difference between the existing tax value and a new improved value is the increment. The City then issues general obligation (G0) bonds to provide the private developer with the required public subsidy and to provide extra money for the City to pay debt service on the bonds for the first three years until new property taxes begin coming in. The City takes on public debt by borrowing future tax revenue from increased taxes of the increment.
In$ight St. Paul Report Nov 12, 2024