Carla Nelson

Senator District 26
117 State Office Building
100 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155-1606

SENATE

Office Phone: 651-296-4848

Email: Sen.Carla.Nelson@senate.mn

State of Minnesota

HAND DELIVERED
June 2, 2015
Dear Governor Dayton,
We are writing to urge the inclusion of language related to the City of Rochesters request to address
costs related to the Destination Medical Center (DMC) initiative in a special session. This language was
brought forth in SF 762/HF 682 and versions of it were included in the final Senate and House Omnibus
Tax Bills. Further, it is our understanding that the Senate had agreed to the House language and that is
the specific language we (and the City) would like to see adopted in the final bill.
This language would allow the city of Rochester to use their already authorized sales tax authority to
also pay for some of their obligations related to the operation of the Destination Medical Center
Corporation (DMCC) and related non-profit DMC Economic Development Agency (EDA). Additionally,
the city would also receive credit for these expenses towards their required contribution to the project
under the DMC enabling legislation.
This bill was supported by the City of Rochester, the DMC, and Mayo Clinic. Everyones hope was that
this would be a relatively simple fix to achieve this session. This legislation is necessary to ensure that
the DMC initiative can fulfill its great potential while at the same time shielding the residents and other
businesses in Rochester from possible property tax increases to support the DMCC and the DMC EDA.
As the parameters of a special session are negotiated we are hopeful that there is a place for this
important piece of legislation, either as part of a modest tax bill or as part of the Jobs bill. This
legislation has been well vetted by committees in both the Senate and the House with jurisdiction over
both economic development and taxes.
We wish you good luck in the special session negotiations. Our constituents in Rochester and we thank
you for your work on this and urge you to help us find resolution to this issue this year.
Sincerely,

Senator Carla Nelson

Representative Kim Norton

CC: Speaker Kurt Daudt, Majority Leader Tom Bakk, Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, Senator Richard Cohen,
Representative Jim Knoblach

Committees: Higher Education and Workforce Development Taxes Capital Investment

Jobs, Agriculture & Rural Development Health, Human Services & Housing