In This Issue:
- Save The Date! Metro Cities Housing Forum October 2nd
- Metropolitan Council Approves Transit Funding Allocation Policy
Save The Date! Metro Cities Housing Forum October 2nd
Mark your calendar for Metro Cities’ Housing Forum on Thursday, October 2, 2025. This will be an in-person forum held at the Roseville Skating Center/Oval from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. The forum will feature topics including innovative uses of resources and tools, tax increment financing for housing, homeowner associations, housing improvement areas, preserving affordable housing, and more! Attendees will receive a comprehensive binder of resources and information. More information coming soon.
Please RSVP by contacting Jennifer Dorn at [email protected].
Metropolitan Council Approves Transit Funding Allocation Policy
The Metropolitan Council voted to adopt a new transit funding allocation policy on Wednesday, September 10. The new policy changes how federal formula funds, regional sales tax revenues, and transit capital property tax revenues are allocated among the transit providers in the metropolitan region.
The proposed policy would allocate federal formula dollars directly to providers as opposed to pooling these funds at the Metropolitan Council.
The policy allocates 4.55% of the regional transportation sales and use tax revenues be distributed to suburban transit providers. This amount is based on Council estimates that 75% of the sales tax revenue for regional transit are required in law to be spent replacing funding previously covered by the seven counties or the state for transitway operation costs. The remaining 25% is proposed to be allocated based on census population to the Metropolitan Council (20%) and cities served by suburban providers (4.55%). The proposed policy allows the use of transit funds for active transportation purposes and requires fare collection system agreements by each provider by January 2027.
The Metropolitan Council levies a property tax (approximately $55 million per year) within a portion of the region to service debt on transit capital bonds. The proposed policy approved at Monday’s meeting would allocate the equivalent funds levied in replacement service municipalities to these providers for transit purposes.
Click HERE to view the business item from the Transportation Committee’s meeting and HERE to view a red-lined copy of the proposed allocation policy. This document also includes correspondence between the Suburban Transit Association and the Metropolitan Council regarding the new funding allocation policy.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.