Bigger MOA gets bipartisan boost

The Mall of America's proposal for a massive expansion built seemingly unstoppable momentum Tuesday as top Republican and DFL legislators endorsed a public subsidy plan before cheering construction workers, with some predicting that only Gov. Tim Pawlenty stands in its way.

With hundreds of sign-waving construction workers rallying at the State Capitol, supporters of the $2.1 billion proposal fanned out among legislators during the day and emphasized the plan's promise to create 7,000 construction jobs and another 7,000 permanent jobs amid a stagnant economy.

The plan's intent to divert $4.5 million in tax base annually from the metro-wide fiscal disparities pool to help pay for a $204 million parking ramp -- a highlight of the subsidy package -- was downplayed as legislators led workers in chants of "Construction Jobs Now."

"I can think of no better way to top off this jobs session than with this bill becoming law," House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, told the cheering workers. "At the end of the day, this issue, I predict, will be on the governor's desk."

She was joined by House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, who also backed the proposal.

Pawlenty's position unclear

In a statement after the rally, Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said that "This year's Mall of America financing proposal is better than last year's, but we still have some questions and concerns." A year ago, the governor vetoed a broad tax bill that included the mall's second phase plan; at the time, he said he was opposed to using fiscal disparities money to help fund it.

"The governor will be looking at the Mall of America proposal in the broader context of our state's priorities," McClung said Tuesday.

The second-phase project, encompassing 5.6 million square feet, would be built across the street from the 16-year-old enclosed mall and would include a mixture of hotels, offices, a dinner theater and water park.

Its most controversial aspect would include the use of public money that otherwise would go into the fiscal disparities pool, a financing tool dating to the 1970s. Under fiscal disparities, 40 percent of the growth in commercial-industrial tax base in the Twin Cities metro area is shared among communities in an attempt to strike a balance between "have" and "have not" cities in terms of tax base. With the mall proposal, the increase in the tax base resulting from the expansion would go toward the 8,000-space parking ramp rather than into the pool.

Although critics maintain that fiscal disparities money was never meant to help subsidize a private development, mall officials have said that without a subsidy package totaling $370 million (including infrastructure improvements), the project cannot move forward.

With the Senate having already approved the mall's proposal, legislative leaders outlined a plan that would have the issue settled in a House-Senate conference committee. Tuesday's events made it likely that the House Taxes Committee, which is chaired by subsidy opponent Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington, would be bypassed as the mall's supporters seek to move the proposal forward in the waning weeks of the session.

Rep. Michael Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park, the House author of the mall measure, said it is unlikely the plan would be introduced in Lenczewski's committee in order to avoid a defeat that would slow the plan's momentum. "I'm not sure there are enough votes," he said.

Lenczewski agreed. "There isn't the votes, and I think they know it," she said.

Sen. Tom Bakk, the Senate Taxes Committee chairman, said the mall's proposal would be part of any "global" solution for an overall state tax bill.

"If I'm in the room, the mall's going to be one of the things considered as part of the final package," said Bakk, DFL-Cook, who was flanked by construction workers and images of the mall's second phase at a news conference.

Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388