We were very pleased with the turnout and the good discussion at our forum earlier this week on Real Estate Taxes in Historic Downtowns. In keeping with recent tradition, we scheduled a meeting on an important topic the day after a major holiday weekend. Nevertheless, 35 folks came and contributed thoughtful questions and discussed possible strategies to deal with a growing vexation for downtown building owners.

Rep. Ray Cox and Sen. Tom Neuville were clearly engaged on this topic. They offered empathetic commentary to concerns raised by building owners Paul Smith and Joe Grundhoefer as well as others in attendance. When asked about solutions, they suggested making common cause with other cities through the Minnesota League of Cities, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

For more on the meeting, see the article in Wednesdays Northfield News titled Downtown Taxes Discussed by NDDC.

Ray also did a fine job of summarizing the major issues presented at the meeting in his Wednesday weblog.

For all the photos from the meeting, see the NDDC mtg album on the northfield.org site.