212654ORIGINAL TO CITY CLERK .���
CITY OF ST. PAUL COUNCIL NO. PPaa!!
OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK '
COUNCIL RESOLUTION-2 GENERAL FORM
PRESENTEE BY
COMMISSIONER_
RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Saint Paul,
after studying the present situation and proposed amendment to
special state aid for schools now before the Legislature,
recognizes and believes that the whole area of school financing,
particularly with respect to state aid and local effort of school
districts and the effect of these efforts upon the other tax
supported governmental units within said districts should be
carefully studied, and recommends and urges that the Legislature
appoint an Interim Study Commission to investigate these problems,
appropriating the sum of $100,000 therefor;
RESOLVED FURTHER, that the Ramsey County Senate and
House delegations be urged to seek and support a bill authorizing l
the aforesaid study.;,•r
COUNCILMEN
Yeas I Nays
Dalglish
19Hand
Loss
Mortinson
Rosen
Mr. President, Vavoulis
10M 6-62
;Council File No. 212854 —By James J.
Dalglish— Bernard T. Holland —Frank
I L. Loss— Severin = A. Mortinson-
Robert F. Peterson — Milton Rosen —
George J.•Vavoulis, Mayor —
Resolved; That the Council of the
City' of Saint Paul, after studying the
s present situation and proposed amend-
i; meet to special state aid for schools i
now before the Legislature, recognizes
and belieyes that the whole area " of
P. school financing, particularly with re -1
spect to state aid and local effort of;
school districts and the effect of these
efforts upon the other tax supported
governmental units within said dis-
tricts should be carefully studied, and,
recommends and urges that the Le -
islature appoint an Interim Study,
i Commission to investigate these prob -,
lems, appropriating the sum of $100,000{
therefor;
Resolved Further, That the Ramsey]
County Senate and House delegations
be urged to seek and support a bill
p authorizing the aforesaid study.
€ . Adopted by the Council May 9, 1963.
Approved May 9, 1963.
.(May, 11, 1963)
i
MAY g 193
Adopted by the Council 19—
my 9 1963
Approved 19—
Tn Favor i)A
Mayor
Against
I
i.
C4, vL
ROBERT E. FARICY
THEODORE J. COLLINS
DANIEL A. KLAS
THOMAS J. STEARNS
JOHN J. McNEIL
GERALD A. ALFVEBY
PAUL J. KELLY
SIDNEY P. ABRAMSON
ASSISTANTS
NEIL P. CONVERY
INVESTIGATOR
CITY OF SAINT PAUL
LEGAL DEPARTMENT
DONALD L. LAIS
CORPORATION COUNSEL
To the Council:
Re: State Aid
a 1,92 6 �
May 7., 1963
LOUIS P. SHEAHAN
DIRECTOR OF LAW
ROBERT E. O'CONNELL
SPECIAL ASSISTANT
After considering the Senate version of the proposed
amendments to special state aid for schools as contained in
Minnesota Statutes 1961, Chapter 124, and hearing the remark by
one of the authors of the bill that local communities make a
"minimum effort, I wish to call your attention to certain facts
in regard to the Saint Paul situation.
The Senate bill will provide that Formula B school
districts, such as Saint Paul, will have subtracted from the amount
of state aids they would otherwise be entitled to, a.n'amount
equivalent to the difference in the taxes raised by applying a
19 mill rate to the valuations established by the State Board of
Equalization for the real property within the school district
and the amount of tax dollars actually raised by real estate
taxes within the school district. In the case of the City of
Saint Paul, the difference amounts to approximately $2,100,000.00,
and the amouiztactually collected in Saint Paul is reflected in
the state mill rate as 16.45 mills. However, these are not to be
mistaken for the mill rate applied in the City, which is, at present,
62 1/2 mills.
Under the proposed amendment, the Board of Education
would be authorized to increase the City mill rate on real property
so as to produce the $2,100,000.00 referred to above, and to the
extent that the City raises additional monies, it would qualify for
matching dollars under state aids. In other words, if the City
raised its mill rate under the state.figure to 19 mills (in fact,
a 9 1/2 mill increase), it would then qualify for the school funds
authorized under Formula B of the proposed act.
The method of determining the City's effort by mill
rate as set out above does not take into account the actual dollar
effort made on a per pupil unit basis. The figures for the calendar
year 1962 indicate that the City made the following expenditures:
To the Council
2
May 7, 1963
Average daily attendance - 4O,o48
Per pupil•cost in Average Daily Attendance
for operation and maintenance
(excluding retirement, welfare, severance,
and bonds and interest) $461.40
Per pupil costs in Average Daily Attendance
(excluding bonds and interest) 501.08
Total per pupil costs in Average Daily Attendance 532.37
Funds available per pupil unit from local taxes for various purposes
Tax'Levy
per
Tax Levy pupil unit
Local levy (operation and
maintenance) $12,000,000 $299.65
Teachers' retirement 1,062,528 26.53
P.E. R. A. 209, 744 5.24
Health and Welfare 220,000 5.49
Severance pay 231,093 5.77
Bonds and interest 1, 253, 271 31.29
Special taxes 358,657 8.96
We find that for the school year ending June 30, 1962,
there was a variance in maintenance costs within school districts
within the State of Minnesota ranging from $246 to $588 per year
per pupil unit. The median figure was $330.per year per-pupil unit,
and Saint Paul's figure was $392 per year per pupil unit, well above
the median.
d
_To'the Council
3
May 7., 1963
It would seem that the parties considering whether
or not a community is making a minimum or maximum local effort
ought to take into consideration the actual dollar expenditure
made on a local basis per pupil unit in order to balance the
equities and arrive at a just distribution of the monies raised
for educational purposes by the state.
It is well to note that the income taxes raised from
taxpayers within the City of Saint Paul, which funds are completely
expended in state W amount to something in excess of $15,000,000.00
per year, and the the City on these state aids is,in the vi-
cinity of $5,000,000.00 a year. In other words, $10,000,000.00 a year
is removed from the City of Saint.Paul through state income taxes
and is not available for either local tax relief or local capital
expenditure.
It seems to me that we in Saint Paul might well request
the State Legislature to appropriate a sum of money sufficient to
finance the cost of doing a complete analysis of the financing
problems and local effort of school - districts and the effect of
these efforts upon the other tax supported governmental units within
said districts during the interim between the 1963 Legislative Session
and the 1965 Legislative Session.
truly yo ,
W 'nald L. Lais
Corporation Counsel
DLL:ja
P.S. It has just been called to
Conference Committee will
as to decrease the amount
lose under the formula to
in no way removes the nee
my attention that the Legislative
possibly amend the Senate bill so
of dollars that Saint Paul will
approximately $80-,000.00. This
d for the above requested study.