The Climate and Infrastructure Committee voted Sept. 30 to approve its consent agenda and adopted two resolutions establishing 2026 special assessments on non-governmental tax-exempt parcels to fund street lighting and street maintenance.

Chair Katie Cashman moved approval of consent agenda items 4 through 8, which the committee approved by voice vote. The consent items included: a resolution for project designation and cost estimate and setting a Nov. 13, 2025 public hearing for the First Avenue South Reconstruction Project; acceptance of the 2025 Local Trail Connections Program grant for the Falwell Park portion of the Northside Greenway; approval of a concept layout for the Northside Greenway; a resolution updating uniform assessment rates for construction and resurfacing of streets and alleys; and a resolution for project designation and cost estimate and setting a Nov. 13, 2025 public hearing for the Cedar Avenue reconstruction project.

The committee then held two related public hearings on proposed special assessments for non-governmental tax-exempt properties. Paul Keating, management analyst in the Transportation Engineering and Design division of Public Works, said the assessments would be collected in 2026 via the Hennepin County property tax statement and that state law permits special assessments on nongovernmental tax-exempt properties so those properties contribute to services they receive. “The rate for payable 2026 assessments is unchanged from previous year,” Keating said.

Keating provided program figures: there are 1,168 eligible non-governmental tax-exempt properties in the city; notices were mailed to 23 properties that are newly assessed or had boundary changes. For the street-lighting assessment, Keating said the median assessment is $44 per year, the average assessment is $92 per year, and the total assessment payable in 2026 is $108,503. For the street-maintenance assessment, he said the median is $219 per year, the average is $464 per year, and the total assessment payable in 2026 is $541,777.

No members of the public had signed up to speak on either assessment item. Chair Cashman closed the hearings and moved approval of both resolutions; committee members approved both measures by voice vote with no recorded roll-call tallies in the transcript. The clerk recorded the motions as carried.