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TIF Bonds

The table below shows the history of TIF bond use in Minnesota. It is compiled from State Auditor Reports of Cities and Counties Revenue and Expenditures. The overall trend since the late 1990s has been to reduce reliance on bond financing in favor of "pay-as-you-go" financing, where the developer (rather than the city) provides the financing. As of 2011, the bonds are exclusively debt of cities.

TIF Bonds by Type
1978-1997
(amounts in thousands)
Year General Obligation Bonds Revenue Bonds Total Bonds
1978 NA NA $119,673
1979 NA NA $171,494
1980 NA NA $214,336
1981 NA NA $269,370
1982 NA NA $331,023
1983 NA NA $349,962
1984 $221,830 $140,905 $362,735
1985 $500,783 $165,415 $666,198
1986 $592,567 $226,925 $819,492
1987 $648,895 $276,653 $925,548
1988 $774,352 $308,700 $1,083,052
1989 $756,345 $450,792 $1,207,137
1990 $960,450 $428,202 $1,388,652
1991 $901,258 $410,255 $1,311,513
1992 $880,632 $402,407 $1,283,039
1993 $971,994 $396,720 $1,368,714
1994 $985,363 $379,885 $1,365,248
1995 $1,037,464 $361,175 $1,398,639
1996 $977,804 $382,604 $1,360,408
1997 $1,019,823 $387,360 $1,407,183
TIF Bonds by Type
1998-2016
(amounts in thousands)
Year General Obligation Bonds Revenue Bonds Total Bonds
1998 $1,032,352 $295,093 $1,327,445
1999 $1,053,429 $249,157 $1,302,586
2000 $1,079,873 $222,614 $1,302,487
2001 $1,040,188 $212,290 $1,252,478
2002 $982,152 $211,723 $1,193,875
2003 $959,395 $192,731 $1,152,127
2004 $938,045 $209,201 $1,147,246
2005 $845,937 $191,029 $1,036,966
2006 $765,310 $182,935 $948,245
2007 $808,708 $183,648 $992,356
2008 $756,566 $103,360 $859,926
2009 $716,151 $82,459 $798,610
2010 $557,626 $80,450 $640,076
2011 $506,424 $61,005 $567,429
2012 $436,590 $51,788 $488,378
2013 $404,095 $44,096 $448,155
2014 $365,683 $64,716 $430,399
2015 $362,837 $73,255 $436,092
2016 $326,239 $80,246 $406,485

Note that the amount of bonds can fluctuate considerably from year to year. This tends to be the result of a few cities paying off or issuing large amounts of bonds. For example, between 1997 and 1998 three large cities (Bloomington, Minneapolis, and St. Paul) accounted for virtually all of the $92 million reduction. In 2010, two cities (Minneapolis and Bemidji) accounted for over $100 million of the reduction from 2009.

September 2018