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Little Falls council approves TIF, business subsidy and grant support for Barrett Pet Food expansion
Summary
Little Falls City approved a nine‑year tax‑increment financing district and a related business subsidy for Barrett Land LLC to fund a wastewater pre‑treatment facility and site infrastructure; council also passed a resolution supporting a separate state DEED Forward Fund grant application. The measures set compliance targets and leave final contract terms to a future TIF agreement.
The Little Falls City Council on June 1 unanimously approved a nine‑year tax‑increment financing (TIF) district and a companion business‑subsidy resolution to support Barrett Pet Food’s planned expansion, and adopted a resolution supporting the company’s application for a Minnesota Forward Fund grant.
City staff presented the TIF proposal and related business‑subsidy disclosure. Jason Murray told the council the city’s assistance toward pre‑treatment and infrastructure is about $3.15 million and that the subsidy/TIF compliance target included in the proposed agreement requires Barrett to create 35 jobs. "For disclosure purposes the terms that are associated with this business subsidy resolution is an outline of those terms that'll be presented in that contract," Murray said.
The applicant, Sarah Barrett, owner of Barrett Pet Food and Barrett Land LLC, described the expansion as driven by wastewater capacity limits at the city system. Barrett said the pre‑treatment facility is estimated at about $4.1 million and the stormwater reroute about $150,000. She said the overall project is being estimated by the company at roughly $40 million, adding about 180,000 square feet of warehouse and 90,000 square feet of production space. "We plan to add ... roughly about 100 jobs over the course of the next three years as we bring shifts on to fill that production line," Barrett said, and added the company currently produces about 200 million pounds of pet food a year at its two facilities.
Carol Anderson of Community Development of Morrison County, who said she helped with Barrett’s earlier project, spoke in support and said the prior Barrett TIF paid off early. Anderson said the company employs 403 people across its two facilities, with about 238 employees in Little Falls.
Council members praised staff and the applicants for moving the project quickly. Council President called for the motions; the council adopted Resolution 2026‑28 to establish TIF District No. 48 and Resolution 2026‑29 recognizing the business subsidy and outlining terms, each by roll call vote.
Staff emphasized the approvals set parameters for the assistance and that a final TIF contract will be drafted by the city attorney’s office and returned to council for formal approval. Murray said: "One of the things we've held off on doing is the formal TIF contract ... you'll see the final TIF agreement once that is drafted and we'll ask for your approval of that agreement."
Separately, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 2026‑30 to provide a city letter of support for Barrett’s planned application to the Minnesota Forward Fund (DEED) to help close a funding gap for the pretreatment work; staff said that resolution carries no direct cost to the city.
The council’s approvals do not finalize every legal term: staff will present the drafted TIF contract and any final subsidy agreement with detailed compliance and clawback language for council consideration before the city disburses increment or executes the assistance agreements.
