Tax bill dropped after Roseville suspects county was trying to pull a fast one

A bill that raised suspicions as a sneaky way to siphon tax dollars from Ramsey County suburbs for megaprojects elsewhere in the county appears to have collapsed.

"I have no further interest and am dropping that bill," said its chief author in the Minnesota House, Circle Pines Republican Linda Runbeck. "I think there was more there than met the eye."

The bill sought to create an Economic Development Authority for Ramsey County with broad powers, something that other metro area counties have done.

But at a time when two game-changing projects are moving forward in Ramsey County — a proposed pro soccer stadium in St. Paul and the long-anticipated development of Rice Creek Commons, the 425-acre former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) site in Arden Hills — eyes narrowed as to what was really going on.

Ramsey County Commissioner Blake Huffman, who had testified on the bill's behalf, said there was "nothing sinister here at all." But he added:

"It is a fair statement that we got out ahead of ourselves and did not do the relationship-building and justification-building with our cities."

The Roseville City Council passed a resolution of concern, and by Friday Huffman was acknowledging that nothing will happen soon.

Roseville Council Member Lisa Laliberte said the contrast was striking with a parallel bill out of neighboring Washington County that had the same aim and is progressing at the Legislature.

"Washington County studied this for three years," she said. "They did conversations with all the city councils and townships and actually had resolutions of support from all those entities."

Washington County's deputy administrator, Kevin Corbid, said that's essentially correct.

"I won't say it was completely bump-free," he said. "We did hear concerns about the county competing with cities or duplicating them. But for the most part we've had great support."

Roseville council members raised questions about the bill last week, when they said they feared the city's robust tax base would be being tapped for projects outside the city without an open debate.

Concerns also were expressed about the process.

"We haven't had any discussions. There hasn't been a public process. There hasn't been transparency," Laliberte said.

Roseville Mayor Dan Roe told council members that Ramsey County officials and business leaders had raised with him the prospect of a heightened county role in development.

"But I thought the outcome was, 'We need to talk more' … and then to find out there was legislation in this session, and it didn't really have that input part, was concerning," Moe said.

Huffman called it "part of a goal to partner with cities, not to take anything away from them. Cities have to lead in economic development. This was a 'Join us if you want, or don't.' "

"This is not a 'How do we get more money into TCAAP?' conversation," he said.

Runbeck, who carried the bill despite the fact that her district doesn't include Ramsey County, said that she now appreciates the suspicion that the bill generated. The big concern, she said, was whether it represented a double tax by cities and the county for development.

"Washington County did this the right way, in getting approval from cities, and I now realize that in Ramsey [County] the due diligence wasn't there," she said.

The bill made it to the Senate floor but was not yet out of committee in the House by the time Roseville sought to intervene.

"There was one hearing here [in the House] and a lot of noise after that," Runbeck said, "and seeing the bases haven't been rounded, we will not pursue it."