The Brainerd City Council opted to forgo a vote on the 2019 tax levy during a public hearing Monday, Dec. 10. Now the final vote looms Monday, Dec. 17.
The proposed levy currently hovers between a 2.8 percent increase-or, essentially a non-substantial impact on taxes, with inflation and property value increases factored in-to a 6 percent increase on the high end.
Budget discussions have led to a drawn-out debate within the council-with the future of city hall, originally constructed in 1914, as the main sticking point. The council is mulling whether to build a new city hall (and complementary parking garage), or whether to renovate the current building that poses significant maintenance issues.
During Monday's meeting, two Brainerd figures weighed in to the discussion swirling around Brainerd City Hall-Ed Shaw, a family law attorney and property owner, as well as Chuck Marohn, a licensed civil engineer and the founder of Strong Towns.
Marohn and Shaw
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Marohn said he is in favor of a 6 percent levy-though, much in line with prior statements by council member Sue Hilgart, he said a higher increase would be best justified by renovating the current city hall, instead of building a new one.
He framed the issue as one of risk-namely, it may be an attractive option to "go big" and rack up debt to fund long-needed maintenance initiatives, such as a new city hall, while the economy is good, but things can quickly go south if the economy takes a turn for the worst.
Economies are difficult to predict, Marohn said, but it's an even harder predicament if the tax base isn't able to handle debt loads accrued in more plentiful years.
"I think this is a really, really risky undertaking. I remember back in 2010 when we were a couple votes from having local government aid gone-gone," Marohn said. "If you're the city of Baxter, who cares. If you're the city of Brainerd, (that's) $4.2 million out of the budget this year."
"If we take on decades-long debt, we take on debt payments annually, what we are saying is that five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now-regardless what happens in the overall economy, we are going to make those debt payments," he added. "From a city's perspective, that's a really risky undertaking."
Shaw, in a plea for protecting Brainerd's past, spoke to a long-standing issue in the community-its historic buildings and landmarks, or lack thereof. City hall could represent a turning point for the better, he said, or it could join a list of demolished regrets from prior years.
"I'll admit, I'm biased-I like older buildings," Shaw told the council. "Brainerd has done a good job destroying its beautiful historic buildings. I'd like to see that stop."
Council divisions
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Disagreement over city hall, more or less, has manifested into two camps-the majority, which has argued for proactive, long-term plans to build a new city hall without pouring more money into the current century-old structure; or the minority, which has lambasted these plans as fiscally irresponsible, unnecessary and detrimental to the city's other infrastructure initiatives.
Correcting the building's deficiencies and completing potential projects, along with operating costs for 15 years, is estimated to run about $9.1 million, per the facilities study by architectural-engineering firm Widseth Smith Nolting.
Critics have noted this number may balloon once crews actually delve into the aging structure, not all of which is accounted for by the study.
On the other hand, building a new city hall would incur estimated costs of about $20.8 million, with an additional new parking garage at roughly $1.8 million per level, plus whatever interest is tacked on to the debt the city would carry to fund these projects.
