Title
Supporting the Recommendations to the Governor for Ranking of Eligible Census Tracts for Designation as Opportunity Zones.
Body
WHEREAS, Opportunity Zones are a new community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low- income communities nationwide; and
WHEREAS, the program provides a federal tax incentive for reinvesting capital gains into “Opportunity Funds,” which are specialized vehicles dedicated to investing in low-income areas called “Opportunity Zones;” and
WHEREAS, the program was reauthorized and made permanent in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) on July 4, 2025, and
WHEREAS, the Opportunity Zones are to be comprised of low-income census tracts designated by the governors in each state and territory; and
WHEREAS, the Governor of each state is authorized to designate 25% of eligible census tracts as Opportunity Zones within their state; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota has 289 qualifying census tracts within the state and is allowed to designate 73 qualifying census tracts as Opportunity Zones; and
WHEREAS, the Governor also has the option of including up to 5% of census tracts that are contiguous with an eligible census tract but are not themselves low-income tracts; and
WHEREAS, the Governor of Minnesota has notified local communities of a process for local input in the recommendation process; and
WHEREAS, the Governor of Minnesota has asked each city of the first class, each of the 87 counties and 11 tribal nations for recommendations for census tracts that should be designated as an Opportunity Zone; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County have joined together to recommend a ranking of qualified census tracts within Ramsey County to be submitted to the Governor; and
WHEREAS, the City and Ramsey County staff have developed a ranking of all the eligible census tracts within Ramsey County; and
WHEREAS, a ranking of the top 30 census tracts is expected to be as follows: #1 337, #2 334, #3 342, #4 336, #5 428, #6 305, #7 332, #8 327, #9 321, #10 315, #11 306, #12 420, #13 376, #14 325, #15 317, #16 304, #17 421, #18 313, #19 324, #20 342, #21 411, #22 331, #23 422, #24 310, #25 316, #26 360, #27 335, #28 411, #29 314, #30 326; and
WHEREAS, a map is attached to this resolution identifying the census tracts listed herein and those additional eligible census tracts; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County are required to submit the recommendation to the Governor on June 30, 2026; and
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Saint Paul supports the recommendation for the top 30 tracts listed above within Ramsey County for submission to the Governor.