April 17, 2007 - According to the latest available projections, NRP will not have enough funding by the end of 2009 to meet the 70% of allocations currently approved for expenditures from Phase II Neighborhood Action Plans. Last week the Development Finance Division (DFD) of the City of Minneapolis Finance Department released a memorandum to the Mayor, Members of the City Council and NRP Director Bob Miller updating their estimate of projected revenues from the Common Project.

The results of their March 2007 analysis show a dramatic decline in the revenues for capitalizing NRP in 2006-2009. The projections, if they become real, show a drop in NRP capitalization of $ 7.7 million from the projections released by DFD in October 2005.

The estimates of Phase II revenues have been changing since the significant tax law changes of 2001 were enacted. Even when the revenue estimates became more of a certainty in 2004, the Policy Board decided to hold back 30% of each allocation to ensure that any problem with the projections could be addressed in the future. The March 2007 projections indicate that the hold back would need to have been almost 50% to address the significant drop in the revenue projections.

Bob Miller is sending a letter to all neighborhood leaders to provide further information regarding these projections. In the meantime, you can download Memo to Mayor and City Council regarding updated Phase II Revenue Projections (PDF) here.

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