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EDA discusses expanding Border Cities program, weighing employee-credit option
Summary
East Grand Forks City Economic Development Authority members briefed state legislators on expanding the Border Cities program and discussed drafting a local policy amendment to allow a portion of annual Border Cities funds to be used for employee credits; staff will study Morehead’s approach and bring a draft policy back for review.
The East Grand Forks City Economic Development Authority on April 23 discussed efforts to expand the state Border Cities program and whether to amend local allocation rules to include employee credits such as workers’ compensation or paid-leave reimbursements.
Chair said the board recently traveled to Minneapolis to testify to the Senate Tax Committee in support of broadening program eligibility and increasing funding. “There’s five cities that get it and the total allocation is $750,000 between those cities and it’s based off the population amount,” the Chair said, adding that staff were seeking statutory language that would make the program more inclusive for different types of businesses.
Why it matters: the Border Cities program provides a pooled allocation distributed among participating cities; changes to the state statute and local policy could allow East Grand Forks City to use part of its annual allocation for employee-focused credits, not just property-tax incentives, potentially helping more small employers.
Board members discussed practical design choices, including whether to keep property-tax-based capital incentives in place while carving out a portion of annual funds for employee credits, how to set per-employee and per-business caps, and whether to base awards on business sector or size. The transcript cites the current per-employee statutory limit at $3,000 and a discussed proposal to increase that ceiling to $5,000, and also references an apparent per-business cap discussed in the meeting at roughly $30,000.
“Morehead uses their Border Cities a little bit differently than we do,” the Chair said, noting staff will review Morehead’s model — which reportedly handles roughly 200 requests a year — and attempt to replicate or adapt its application and qualification processes locally.
The board asked staff to draft a policy amendment and return with a suggested allocation slice and qualifying criteria for review. No formal vote was taken on a policy change at the meeting.
Votes at a glance: the board approved routine business earlier in the meeting, including minutes and accounts-payable reports, by voice votes called during the session; the transcript records assent but does not provide numeric tallies.
The board directed staff to study Morehead’s program design and to draft a local policy amendment that would lay out per-employee and per-business limits, qualification criteria, and an allocation formula; the item will return for further consideration.
