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Article 1
Department Policy: Individual Income and Withholding Taxes
Section 1. Additional tax charge abatement. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270C.34, subd. 1, to allow the commissioner to abate the additional tax charge imposed on individuals, corporations, trusts, S corporations and partnerships for reasonable cause. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 2. Filing requirements for active duty members of military. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.08, subd. 1, to permit Minnesota residents to exclude active duty military pay for services performed in Minnesota when determining if they have met the Minnesota individual income tax filing requirements. Under current law, only income from active duty pay for services performed outside Minnesota is excluded in determining the Minnesota filing requirement. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 3. Composite estimated tax. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.08, subd. 7, to alleviate a beneficiary, shareholder or partner’s liability for estimated payments when the trust, S corporation or partnership pays composite estimated tax under section 289A.25. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 4. Third-party payers of sick pay. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.12 by adding a new subdivision to require certain third-party payers of sick pay to file an annual report with the Commissioner of Revenue. The new reporting requirement will improve accuracy of payroll reporting as currently there is a disconnect between the tax listed on employee W-2 forms and the tax included on employer withholding returns. This change will lower administrative burden for the department and for employers as this will reduce department requests to employers in the reconciliation process. The report must include the names and identification numbers of employers for whom the third party is making sick pay payments and the names and social security numbers of the employees who received sick pay and the amount of sick pay paid and tax withheld. The report is due by March 1 of the year following the year that the sick pay is paid. The requirement only applies to third-party payers who withhold income tax and remit it to the Department of Revenue under the third party’s withholding tax account, but who then permit the employer to include the taxes withheld at the end of the year on the W-2 issued by the employer to the employee. Effective for benefits paid after December 31, 2010.
Section 5. Estimated tax pass-through entities. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.25, subd. 1, to require trusts, S corporations and partnerships to pay estimated tax if the sum of the taxes imposed under Minn. Stat. ch. 290 and composite tax exceeds $500. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 6. Estimated tax first-year exception. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.25, subd. 6, to make the first-year exception from the additional tax charge the same for trusts, S corporations, and partnerships. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 7. Estimated tax short taxable year. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.25, by adding subdivision 14, to clarify the method for paying estimated tax when a trust, S corporation, or partnership has a short taxable year of less than 12 months, but at least 4 months. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 8. Estimated tax S corporations. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.26, subd. 1, moves the liability for S corporations to pay estimated tax from section 289A.26 to section 289A.25. Effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
Section 9. Backup withholding for independent contractors. Amends Minn. Stat. § 290.92, subd. 26, to clarify that backup withholding applies to payments made to independent contractors who are subject to withholding under Minn. Stat. § 290.92, subd. 31. Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 2
Department Policy: Estate Tax
For the 16 years ending December 31, 2001, the Minnesota estate tax was directly linked to the federal estate tax as a “pickup” or “soak-up” tax equal to the credit allowed under federal estate tax for state estate and inheritance taxes. In 2001, Congress repealed this credit and the Minnesota legislature chose to continue imposing the Minnesota estate tax under the rules in effect prior to the federal repeal.
On December 17, 2010, Public Law 111-312, continued the repeal of the federal credit for state estate and inheritance taxes while amending the federal due date of returns and payments for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2009, and before December 17, 2010. New federal law also imposes a federal estate tax on estates of 2010 decedents (with a step-up in basis) while allowing those estates to opt out of the federal estate tax (in return for a modified carry-over basis).
The amendments described below modify the Minnesota estate tax audit period to be more in line with other states and the federal estate tax and make changes in light of Public Law 111-312.
Section 1. Estate tax return due date. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.18, subd. 3, to conform Minnesota’s return due date to the federal return due date for decedents dying after December 31, 2009, and before December 17, 2010. For those estates, a Minnesota estate tax return is not due before September 19, 2011. The current filing due date, including an automatic 6-month extension, is fifteen months after date of death. Effective for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2009.
Sections 2, 3, and 5. Estate tax audit period. Repeals Minn. Stat. § 289A.38, subd. 3, and amends Minn. Stat. §§ 289A.35 and 289A.38, subd. 5, extending the general 3-1/2 year assessment period to estate tax returns. The current audit period is 180 days after a complete return is filed. This makes the audit period for estate tax more in line with other states and the federal estate tax. Within nine months of the filing of an estate tax return, the commisioner is required to notify the estate as to whether the estate is under examination or being processed. Effective for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2010.
Section 4. Minnesota qualified terminable interest property (QTIP). In light of Public Law 111-312, amends Minn. Stat. § 291.03, subd. 1b, to maintain an irrevocable QTIP election on the Minnesota estate tax return for estates of 2010 decedents if no federal estate tax is imposed. Effective for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2009.
Article 3
Department Policy: Property Tax
Current law does not provide a sufficient time period to make corrections regarding the property taxes and valuation of utility, railroad, and wind energy production facilities. The new time periods for adjustments would allow the revised values to be reflected on the Truth in Taxation notices and would be prior to the local jurisdictions setting their final budget and property tax levies.
Sections 1, 2, 5 – 8. Correction of railroad, utility, and wind energy production values. Amends Minn. Stat. §§ 270.87 and 274.175, to allow the commissioner to issue corrected certifications of railroad valuations to the county assessor until August 31 of the assessment year if the amounts certified on or before June 30 are in error. Under current law the valuations cannot be corrected after June 30. Effective for taxes payable in 2012 and thereafter.
Amends Minn. Stat. § 272.029, by adding a new subdivision 4a, to allow the commissioner to correct errors in the amount of tax certified to the counties and the taxpayer. Corrections would have to be made by April 1 of the taxes payable year. Effective beginning with certifications due February 28, 2012.
Amends Minn. Stat. §§ 273.33, 273.37, 273.3711, and 274.175 to allow the commissioner to correct electric utility values until October 1 of the assessment year if the amounts certified on or before August 1 are in error. Under current law, the valuations cannot be corrected after August 1. Also clarifies that when the commissioner provides recommended values, those values must be certified at the same time that ordered values are certified. Effective for taxes payable in 2012 and thereafter.
Section 3. Homestead first-tier class rate for entity-owned lands. Amends Minn. Stat. § 273.124, subd. 8(d), to clarify the provision enacted in 2010 that allows the remainder of an individual’s first-tier agricultural homestead class-rate benefit to extend to land that is not already a homestead, but which is owned by an entity of which the person is a member, shareholder or partner. The following clarifications are made: (1) the provision grants a class-rate benefit; (2) as in the case of a homestead, the provision covers both class 2a land and contiguous 2b land of the claimant; (3) the claimant’s homestead parcel must be owner-occupied; and (4) the benefit only applies to nonhomestead property. Effective retroactively for taxes payable in 2011 and thereafter.
Section 4. Agricultural homesteads. Amends Minn. Stat. § 273.13, subd. 23, paragraph (e), to treat intensive livestock confinement operations (such as a poultry farm) as an agricultural use, regardless of their size. Other language changes in this section are for clarification only. Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 4
Department Policy: Sales and Use Tax
Section 1. Accelerated monthly payment. Amends Minn. Stat. § 289A.60, subd. 31, paragraph (b), to provide an additional safe harbor for those vendors that, on or before the 20th day of the month in which the taxable event occurs, must remit a prepayment of sales tax liabilities for the month in which the taxable event occurs equal to 67 percent of the liabilities for the previous month, including any other tax or fee paid on the same return. The penalty for underpayment will not be imposed if the amount remitted is equal to the liabilities for the month in which the taxable event occurred. Effective for sales and purchases after June 30, 2011.
Sections 2 and 3. Rate change transitional language. Amends Minn. Stat. §§ 297A.62 and 297A.63, to provide transitional language for services when there is a rate change and the service covers a period beginning before and ending after the effective date. This change is done for purposes of Streamlined Sales Tax conformity and is similar to previous administrative and legislative practice. This does not have any impact unless there is a future rate change. Effective the day following final enactment.
Sections 4 and 5. Direct mail sourcing. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297A.668, subd. 7, and adds a subdivision 7a, to distinguish between “advertising and promotional” direct mail and “other direct mail,” for purposes of determining the location of the sale, and therefore to what state or local jurisdiction any applicable tax is owed. The statutory term for this determination is “sourcing.” Under the proposed amendment, if the purchaser of “other direct mail” does not provide either a direct pay permit or an exemption certificate claiming direct mail, the seller shall source to the address of the purchaser, rather than under the current law which would either source to the delivery destination or to the address from which the mail is shipped. This has no revenue impact, because what is included in “other direct mail” is either not taxable in Minnesota or if taxable, it is not sourced here under the current direct mail sourcing provisions. That is, Minnesota does not impose sales or use tax on bills, bank statements, privacy notices, or other items that fall into the definition of “other direct mail” based on where they are mailed. Rather, Minnesota has always considered this type of printed material to be administrative in nature and has always sourced it to the purchaser’s address if it was taxable. These changes are done for purposes of Streamlined Sales Tax conformity. Effective for sales and purchases made after June 30, 2011.
Section 6. St. Paul lodging related services. Amends Laws 1986, chapter 462, section 31, as amended by Laws 1991, chapter 291, article 8, section 24, to clarify that a St. Paul local sales tax on lodging at establishments having 50 or more lodging rooms is supposed to be based on the consideration furnished for both lodging and related services. St. Paul currently imposes two different taxes on lodging, and the tax base for each is slightly different. The first 3 percent applies to charges for lodging and related services. The additional 3percent applies to lodging at establishments with 50 or more rooms available, but the current session law only uses the term “lodging,” without the words “related services.” Effective for sales and purchases made after June 30, 2011.
Article 5
Department Policy: Miscellaneous
Section 1. Police and fire aids. Amends Minn. Stat. § 69.031, subd. 1, to modify the interest that must be included with late payments of fire or police state aids. Currently, interest from the prior July 1 must be included if the payments are not made by October 1. The new language provides that interest will not accrue until after October 1. This eliminates an excessive interest calculation if a payment is only a few days late. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 2. Application for business registration. Creates a new section, Minn. Stat. § 270C.101, waiving the requirement for an entity applying for a Minnesota business tax account number to list the names, home addresses, and social security numbers of its officers or directors, when the applicant is an instrumentality of state, local, federal, or tribal government. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 3. Rounding on tax forms. Creates a new section, Minn. Stat. § 270C.301, that authorizes the department to require rounding of line item amounts less than a dollar to the nearest dollar on any form filed with the Department of Revenue, for those tax types which do not already have rounding authority. Currently, income tax, sales tax, and property tax refunds each have a statutory provision for rounding. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 4. Notice of subpoena. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270C.32, subd. 3, to provide that notice of a third- party record keeper subpoena does not have to be given to the taxpayer when there is a criminal investigation, and prohibits the party served with the subpoena from notifying the taxpayer. Effective for subpoenas served after the day following final enactment.
Section 5. Credit of payments against delinquent tax liabilities. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270C.64 to allow the commissioner to credit payments due any person against a delinquent uncontested liability. Current law only allows overpayments of tax to be credited. The amendment would allow the commissioner to also credit payments that are not overpayments of tax against liabilities. For example, sustainable forest incentive payments. Effective for liabilities becoming delinquent after the day of final enactment.
Section 6. Levied and redeemed property refund account. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270C.711, to change the commissioner’s report on the status of the seizure program from a quarterly to an annual report. The committees reported to are amended to change obsolete references to conform with current standards. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 7. Mortgage registry tax, mortgage supplements. Amends Minn. Stat. § 287.05, subd. 2, to clarify that an existing mortgage is taxable to the extent that it is modified to secure new funds advanced to the debtor, on which the tax has not been paid; even though the new outstanding amount of debt does not exceed the amount previously secured by the mortgage. Occasionally, taxpayers have argued this new debt is not subject to tax even though it is taxable debt on which the tax has not been paid. This does not apply to line-of-credit mortgages for which there is an existing allowance in statute. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 8. Repealer. Repeals the rounding authority for income tax in Minn. Stat. § 290.06, subd. 10, and repeals the rounding authority for the property tax refund in Minn. Stat. § 290A.27. The rounding authority for these tax types will remain the same and is now set forth in section 3. Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 6
Department Technical: Income Tax
Sections 1 – 4, and 7. Individual income tax net operating losses. These sections make various clarifying amendments that only affect individual income taxpayers, estates, and trusts who elect to carryback net operating losses generated in 2008 or 2009 for three, four or five years, as allowed federally under the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. Minnesota law was amended in 2010 to allow those losses to be carried back for two years for Minnesota purposes, with unused losses carried forward for up to twenty years.
Section 1 amends Minn. Stat. § 290.01, subd. 19a, by adding paragraph (18) to require an addition to federal taxable income for deductions allowed in the computation of federal taxable income that are attributable to net operating losses which the taxpayer carried back for federal purposes.
Section 2 amends Minn. Stat. § 290.01, subd. 19b, by adding paragraph (18) to allow a subtraction from federal taxable income for the net operating losses allowed under Minn. Stat. § 290.095, subd. 11 (c). These are losses which the taxpayer carried back for federal purposes. Also amends paragraphs (10), (11), and (14), to clarify that Minnesota residents are allowed to subtract compensation paid for active duty military service performed in Minnesota only once in computing their Minnesota net income. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 3 amends Minn. Stat. § 290.06, subd. 2c, to modify the formula used to determine the tax of nonresidents and part year residents by changing the numerator of the fraction by the Minnesota portion of the addition to federal taxable income and the subtraction from federal taxable income attributable to net operating losses which the taxpayer carried back for federal purposes. Also changes the denominator of the fraction by the total addition and subtraction from federal taxable income attributable to those net operating losses.
Section 4 amends Minn. Stat. § 290.091, subd. 2, to require an addition in the computation of alternative minimum taxable income equal to the deductions allowed in the computation of federal taxable income that are attributable to net operating losses which the taxpayer carried back for federal purposes. Also allows a subtraction in the computation of alternative taxable income equal to the net operating loss allowed under Minn. Stat. § 290.095, subd. 11, paragraph (c).
Sections 5 and 6. Minimum fee exemption and definitions. Amends Minn. Stat. § 290.0922, subd. 2, to clarify that the exemption from the minimum fee imposed on corporations and partnerships is available only to qualified businesses that have all of their property and payroll located in a job opportunity building zone. Effective the day following final enactment.
Also amends Minn. Stat. § 290.0922, subd. 3, to clarify that only the property and payroll of a qualified business located in a job opportunity building zone are excluded from the definitions of “Minnesota property” and “Minnesota payrolls” for purposes of determining the minimum fee. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 7 amends Minn. Stat. § 290.095, subd. 11, to allow a net operating loss deduction equal to the greater of taxable net income or alternative minimum taxable income.
All of the changes are effective retroactively for losses generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007.
Article 7
Department Technical: Property Tax
Section 1. Tax relief for destroyed properties. Amends Minn. Stat. § 273.1231, subd. 4, to change an incorrect reference to class 1c homestead dwellings. Class 1c is for the resort portion of homesteaded seasonal resorts. Homestead dwellings (the house, garage, and surrounding one acre) located on the properties are technically either class 1a or 1b. Eliminating the “1c” reference corrects that error. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 2. Agricultural relative-homesteads and homesteads for spouses living apart. Amends Minn. Stat. § 273.124, subd. 1. The first change, in paragraph (d), adds the parents of the owner’s spouse to those relatives of the owner who can occupy the property and have it qualify as a homestead under this provision. The list of eligible occupants will be: parents, siblings, children or grandchildren of the owner or the owner’s spouse. This change, along with the similar change in the next section will provide an identical list of qualifying relatives for homestead treatment under both the agricultural relative-homestead provision and the special agricultural homestead provision. This brings more consistency and lessens administrative burdens. The second change, in paragraph (e), allows a full homestead for each spouse, instead of a 50% homestead, if the spouses are living apart due to one of the four reasons prescribed in statute, even if the spouses did not previously occupy one of the homesteads together. Both changes are effective for taxes payable in 2012 and thereafter.
Section 3. Special agricultural homesteads. Amends Minn. Stat. § 273.124, subd. 14. The first change, in paragraph (b)(i)(1) and (b)(iv), clarifies that contiguous class 2b, rural vacant land, is included for the purpose of administering the 40-acre minimum applicable to real property that can qualify for a special agricultural homestead. The existing requirements regarding farming the land are unchanged. The second change, in paragraph (b)(i)(2), adds “parents” to the list of who can be actively farming the land in order for it to qualify for the homestead classification under this allowance. The list of eligible active-farmers will be: grandchild, child, sibling, or parent of the owner or the owner’s spouse. The changes in par. (j) are necessary so that those provisions remain temporary, as they are under existing law. Effective the day following final enactment, except for the change adding parents is effective for taxes payable in 2012 and thereafter.
Sections 4, 5, and 6. Use deeds. Amends Minn. Stat. § 282.01, subd. 1a, to make a technical change in the definition of a park for purposes of an authorized public use, to require that the land include park-like improvements instead of mere amenities, to limit potential disagreements over what constitutes an amenity. Amends Minn. Stat. § 282.01, subds. 1c and 1d, to clarify which of the new restrictions and allowances enacted in 2010 apply to use deeds executed both before and after the effective date of those laws; and to provide a 15-year limit on how long a political subdivision may keep these properties for a planned future use. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 7. Deed preparation fees. Amends Minn. Stat. § 282.014 to make the deeds that do not involve typical sales (such as “targeted community” conveyances under Minn. Stat. § 282.01, subd. 1b) subject to the $25 preparation fee. “Use” deeds and replacement deeds are excepted because they have separate, specific provisions. Effective for deeds executed by the commissioner of revenue after June 30, 2011.
Section 8. Minerals. Amends Minn. Stat. § 282.12 to clarify that minerals are reserved to the state in transactions involving forfeited lands, even if the transaction is not a traditional sale. Effective retroactively from July 1, 2010.
Section 9. Repealer.
(1) Minn. Stat. § 272.02, subd. 34, is repealed. This subdivision states that the property tax exemptions in § 272.02, subdivisions 1 through 33, are subject to certain limits or restrictions that are either redundant (given the limits and restrictions in § 272.02, subd. 1a), or obsolete (given the changes in the property tax treatment of low-income housing over recent years). Effective the day following final enactment.
(2) Minn. Stat. § 273.124, subd. 10, is repealed. This subdivision, for people prevented from occupying newly-purchased property on January 2 of the assessment year, is redundant because subdivision 9 of this statute recognizes any new homestead established before December 1 of the assessment year. Effective the day following final enactment.
(3) Minn. Stat. § 281.37 is repealed. This statute prescribes an interest rate to apply to delinquent taxes in cases where the land has erroneously not been placed on the current year’s delinquent tax list; but that conflicts with the more recent interest provisions in Minn. Stat. § 279.03, subd. 1a(a). Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 8
Department Technical: Sales and Use Tax
Section 1. Aggregate. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297A.61, subd. 3(g)(5), to clarify that the delivery of concrete block by a third party, where the delivery would be subject to sales tax if provided by the seller of the concrete block, is not excluded from the sales tax. Effective the day following enactment.
Section 2. Low-income housing. Current law provides a sales tax exemption for the purchase of construction materials used in certain low-income housing projects. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297A.71, subd. 23, to replace a reference to the repealed low-income housing property tax provision, Minn. Stat. § 273.126, with its replacement, Minn. Stat. § 273.128. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 3. Direct pay. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297A.89, subd. 2, to clarify that the commissioner does not issue direct pay exemption certificates to purchasers; rather, purchasers designate their direct pay status on a fully completed exemption certificate that they provide to retailers. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 4. Sales tax on motor vehicle paid to another state. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297B.08 to clarify that the state rate by which the other state’s rate is to be compared for purposes of a credit, is the rate in Minn. Stat. ch. 297B. Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 9
Department Technical: Special Taxes
The following four proposed amendments relate to the petroleum tax debt service surcharge. They contain tax conforming language in relation to an earlier enacted transportation finance bill.
Section 1. Apportionment. Amends Minn. Stat. § 296A.083 by adding a new subdivision 4, to clarify that the surcharge under this section is subject to the apportionment provisions of Minn. Stat. § 296A.18. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 2. Computation of non-highway use amounts. Amends Minn. Stat. § 296A.18 by moving the provisions of subdivision 9 to a new subdivision 6a, to clarify the computation and transfer of non-highway use amounts. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 3. Forest road. Amends Minn. Stat. § 296A.18, subd. 7, by moving language referencing interest and penalties from subdivision 9. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 4. Federal Employees Health Benefits Act. Amends Minn. Stat. § 297I.15 to add a new subdivision 12, to exclude payments from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program from taxes and surcharges that are imposed under Minn. Stat. ch. 297I. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 5. Production tax guaranteed distribution. Amends Minn. Stat. § 298.225, subd. 1, correcting two citations to Minn. Stat. § 298.28, regarding the distribution of production tax proceeds. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 6. Production tax school district distributions. Amends Minn. Stat. § 298.28, subd. 2, to clarify that overages in all taconite school district overages are distributed to cities and townships located within the school district. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 7. Repealer. Repeals Minn. Stat. § 296A.18, subd. 9, which is now obsolete since the language has been moved to a new subdivision 6a. Effective the day following final enactment.
Article 10
Department Technical: Miscellaneous
Section 1. Revenue recapture reference. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270A.03, subdivision 7, to correct a reference to sustainable forest payments.
Section 2. Tax forms. Amends Minn. Stat. § 270C.30 to clarify that the commissioner can prescribe the content and format of all forms required to be filed under a law administered by the commissioner. Effective the day following final enactment.
Section 3. Waiver authority. Amends Minn. Stat. § 469.319, subd. 5, to clarify that there is a single sixty-day limitation period for taxpayers to request a waiver of the obligation to repay Job Opportunity Building Zone tax benefits. This change reflects the intent of a 2010 law change that established the sixty-day limitation period for taxpayers to petition the Commissioner of Revenue for a waiver under this section. Effective for waivers requested in response to notices issued after the day following final enactment.
Article 11
Miscellaneous
Sections 1 and 2 provide that licensed ambulance services may be claimants under the revenue recapture law without going through the county acting as the claimant agency.
Section 3 provides that the lands and buildings used exclusively for county or community fairgrounds in St. Louis County are exempt from property tax.
Section 4 expands the definition of agricultural products to include game birds and waterfowl that are bred and raised on a game farm licensed by the Department of Natural Resources provided that the annual licensing report to the Department of Natural Resources indicates that at least 500 birds were raised or used for breeding stock on the property during the year. This report must be submitted annually to the assessor.
Section 5 modifies the list of property that must be submitted by a petitioner who is contesting the valuation of income-producing property. It requires that the information must be provided to the county assessor no later than August 1 of the taxes payable year. The petitioner will not be required to provide leases initially, but if after the August 1 deadline, a county assessor determines that the actual leases are necessary to properly evaluate the property, the assessor may require that the petitioner submit the leases then, and the petitioner must provide that information to the assessor within 60 days of the request. The tax court will hear and decide issues relating to subsequent information requests by the assessor. Failure to provide the information required under this law will be addressed under the rules of civil procedure.
Section 6 strikes the $2,000 limitation on the amount that the St. Louis County Board may annually appropriate to assist in maintaining a county fair. The board would be authorized to assist more than one fair.
Section 7 provides that land and buildings that are used exclusively as a site for a county or community fair in St. Louis County are exempt from property taxation.
Section 8 authorizes Anoka County to issue debt to acquire county-wide public safety improvements and equipment, including personal property benefiting both Anoka County and the municipalities located within Anoka County. This expands the authority under current law that enables the county to issue debt for public safety communication system infrastructure and equipment. Personal property acquired with the proceeds of the bonds or capital notes must have an expected useful life at least as long as the term of the debt. The outstanding principal amount of the bonds and the capital notes for all purposes under this section may not exceed $8,000,000 at any time. The obligations are subject to approval by a majority vote of the Anoka County Joint Law Enforcement Council. This debt will not be included in the computation of the net debt of Anoka County. The authorization expires December 31, 2023.
Section 9 provides that three specified parcels located in the city of Sauk Rapids may be included within a tax increment financing district, notwithstanding the prohibition in current law that parcels that had been subject to Green Acres treatment may not be included in a tax increment financing district for at least five years after they are withdrawn from the Green Acres program.
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