Date: July 11, 2017
To: Members of the Economic Development Authority
From: Nate Carlson, Economic Development Coordinator
Chris Heineman, Community Development Director
Title
EDA Business Subsidy Policy Work Session
Body
SUMMARY:
The Northfield Economic Development Authority shall review the Business Subsidy Policy for the City of Northfield at a work session.
BACKGROUND:
Following the Regular EDA meeting in May, the EDA Board requested a work session to review and recommend changes to the Northfield Business Subsidy Policy. The work session is intended to address concerns from all EDA Board members and direct staff accordingly.
The EDA Executive Committee has convened on three separate occasions to review and recommend changes to the Northfield Business Subsidy Policy. The minutes of those meetings are attached for review. The Executive Committee has been working concurrently with City Attorney, Chris Hood, on the revisions required by State Statute. Staff received detailed comments from City Attorney. A majority of the language drafted by City Attorney mirrors that of State Statute, which is required by the Business Subsidy Act of Minnesota. The City Attorney also made reference to statutory requirement criteria for the "Living Wage Job" definition, and his comments were that "this is a policy issue for the City."
The EDA Executive Committee discussed the meaning of "Living Wage Job" and agreed upon the following definition: "Shall mean a job which pays wages that total at least the rate of 150-percent of the current poverty level for a family of four." A primary justification for using this formula to create the statutory required criteria of a "wage floor," which would result in a wage of $17.74 per hour exclusive of benefits utilizing the 2017 ASPE Poverty Guideline. Executive Committee members agreed utilizing a formula based wage floor would help to account for market fluctuations. The following is a list of example wages used by other ci...
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