City Council Preview: Preliminary Property Tax Levy Increase on Tap for Tuesday

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The Eagan City Council will convene at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night at to hold a regular meeting. Here's a preview of a selection of agenda items the council is expected to discuss. For a full agenda, click here.

• For several years, Target Corp. has worked with Eagan police personnel to promote public safety, including a grant in 2009 to purchase surveillance equipment that could be used to investigate retail theft cases. On Tuesday, the council may vote whether to accept another $700 grant from Target to purchase additional surveillance equipment for the . 

• For more than a decade, the city and School District 196 have partnered to establish a school resource officer program in three schools. The Eagan City Council may vote whether to continue the service agreement for the 2012-2013 school year on Tuesday. As part of the agreement, the school district has agreed to pay the city $76,335.51 to help fund the position.

• The Eagan City Council is expected to vote on Tuesday whether to donate used playground equipment from Wescott Park playground to the nonprofit organization Kids Around the World. If the council chooses to donate the equipment, the playground would be recycled and reused in a developing country.

• It's budgeting season for Eagan city officials, and on Tuesday, the council is expected to vote whether to approve a the preliminary 2013 property tax levy and 2013 budget. The preliminary levy is $28,322,017—a 3.3 percent increase over the 2012 tax levy. The proposed increase will help the city keep up with inflationary costs and pay for a roughly 1.5 percent pay increase for all city staff, according to city officials. The preliminary levy is just a benchmark—council members cannot increase the preliminary levy amount, but they can reduce it before certification of the final 2013 tax levy at a Truth in Taxation hearing scheduled for Dec. 4.

• The Eagan City Council is expected to vote whether to approve a planned development amendment and final platting for . If approved, the single-story facility would likely house Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, or MISO, a regional electrical transmission operator serving 13 states and the Canadian province of Manitoba.