Choices for Change: A Guide to Local Government Cooperation and Restructuring in Minnesota

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Intergovernmental Agreements

Joint Exercise of Powers Act

The Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Minnesota Statutes, section 471.59) is the principal part of the Minnesota Statutes addressing local intergovernmental cooperation.

The law authorizes local governments to enter into agreements with each other to provide services or other functions. The units of government that may cooperate include all cities, counties, townships, school districts, political subdivisions of adjoining states, and any agency of the state or the United States. This book deals with local general-purpose government and will look only at agreements among cities, townships, and counties.

Two types of cooperative arrangements are possible under the act:

• Shared powers agreements: Governments jointly share responsibility for providing a service. For example, two or more cities may cooperate and jointly provide fire protection for residents of each municipality.
• Service contracts: One government contracts with another government for a service. For example one city might have a contract with another city to provide snow removal.Click here for more information.

Intergovernmental Service Agreement

This is the most common form of cooperative arrangement in Minnesota. It is an agreement-either formal or informal, written or oral-between two or more governments about the delivery of a service or services. These agreements may take many forms. For example, a city may rent another city its sewer cleaning equipment once a year; another city may agree to plow the roads of smaller cities and townships in the area; or the cities and townships in a county may create an economic development office that serves the entire region. For more information, click here.

Intergovernmental Service Transfer

The permanent transfer of total responsibility for the provision of a service from one governmental unit to another. For example, a city or township that finds it is not cost effective or practical to provide a particular service, such as waste disposal, might turn over to the county or another government body the responsibility for providing that service. For more information, click here.

Boundary and Government Adjustments

Municipal Incorporation

The organization of a township, townships, or part of a township into a city. In recent years, only a couple of incorporation files have been opened with the Minnesota Municipal Board, which can order or deny a petition for municipal incorporation. For more information, click here.

Consolidation

The merging of two or more cities into a new city. Townships can also be consolidated by their county board. Both the Minnesota Municipal Board and the Board of Government Innovation and Cooperation can authorize municipal consolidations. Since 1990, only a couple of consolidation files have been opened with the Municipal Board each year.

The Board of Government Innovation and Cooperation has only recently begun working in this area. For more information on consolidation, click here.

Detachment

When land is detached from a city to become part of a bordering township. Land can also be detached from a township to form a new township, join another township, or become an unorganized territory. For more information, click here.

Concurrent Detachment and Annexation

When land from one city is detached and annexed to a bordering city. This requires altering the boundaries of two cities. For more information, click here.

Orderly Annexation

An agreement between a city and a township providing for the eventual annexation of a portion of township land to a city. Once the agreement is in place, annexation of township land to the city is usually easy. Since 1990, there have been approximately 84 orderly annexation files opened with the Minnesota Municipal Board. For more information, click here.

Annexation by Ordinance

A way to annex land owned by a city, completely surrounded by a city, or where property owners of less than 60 acres petition annexation. As of 1994, there were well over 100 annexations by ordinance a year, but that might change.

A recent change in the Minnesota Statutes requires cities to share with townships tax revenue from annexed land, and that could become a costly burden. For example, a city may not be able to collect any tax revenue on the annexed property the first year it is annexed, and must during the subsequent five years pay a portion of the tax revenue to the township. The payments to the township, however, are based on the value of the property at the time of annexation, and not after it's been developed. For more information, click here

Annexation by Board Order

A way to control annexations when other methods are not desired. For example, when an orderly annexation agreement is not in place, when annexation by ordinance is contested, or when one or more parties believe this is the only way to accomplish the annexation because of potential controversy. The Minnesota Municipal Board can rule on the annexation of the unincorporated land in question. For more information, click here.

Dissolution

The legal disbanding of a city or township. The city land becomes part of one or more existing townships. The disbanded township may become part of an adjoining township or townships, or be left as an unorganized territory of its county. For more information, click here.

The State of Minnesota's Board of Government Innovation and Cooperation was created by the state legislature in 1993 to help local governments work cooperatively and redesign the services they deliver.

The Board's long-term goal is to improve the productivity and effectiveness of local government units. The Board has three programs that relate to cooperation and restructuring at the local level:

Grant program	The purpose of the grant program is to reduce the cost of delivering services at the local level, and at the same time improve the quality of those services. Funds are available from the Board to develop models for innovative service delivery, to develop plans for intergovernmental cooperation on the delivery of a service, and to cover one-time-only start-up costs associated with providing fully integrated intergovernmental services or programs. Local governments proposing to consolidate through the Board or the Minnesota Municipal Board are eligible for planning and start-up grants.
Waiver Program	The Board has the authority to grant both waivers from state administrative rules and temporary limited exemptions from procedural state laws governing the delivery of services by a local government. The request for a waiver or exemption must be made by one or more local governments. The purpose of the waiver program is to foster a results-oriented approach to service delivery and to allow local governments to demonstrate the effectiveness of alternative delivery models.
Consolidation Program	The purpose of the Board's consolidation program is to offer a non-adversarial process and a financial incentive for local governments (townships, cities, and counties) to consolidate into one governmental unit. The local governments must agree to a two-year cooperation period and then to merge into a single unit of government over the next two years.

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