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 Opportunity Zones themselves are to be comprised of low-income census tracts and designated by governors in every state and territory; and
Whereas, the Governor of each state is authorized to designate 25% of eligible census tracts as Opportunities Zones within their state; and
Whereas, Minnesota has 509 qualifying census tracts within the state and is allowed to designate 128 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 could designate up to 7 tracts as contiguous out of the state's 128 designated Opportunity Zones; and
Whereas, the Governor has notified local communities of a process for local input in the recommendation process; and
Whereas, the Governor has asked each city of the first class, each of the 87 counties and 11 tribal nations for their recommendations, including a ranking of the 250 lowest income eligible census tracts; 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 expe...
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