A complicated tax capture plan sought by the Mayo Clinic to assist in a 20-year growth plan is being dropped in favor of state aid payments directly tied to the amount of private spending on the development.
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When Minnesota lawmakers return to the state Capitol on Tuesday to focus on a two-year budget, they will also weigh whether to approve the Mayo Clinic's request for $500 million to support its $3 billion expansion plan. Lawmakers say they want to help the hospital and clinic system grow, but some have concerns about the size of its funding request and the overall financing plan.
The Mayo Clinic is pledging to spend $3 billion over the next 20 years to expand in Rochester, and asks that the state of Minnesota contribute half a billion dollars to pay for infrastructure needs associated with that growth. Lawmakers have not decided whether the state should support the plan but a lot of people are talking about how Mayo might continue to expand its footprint in Rochester.
Since 1966, the Mayo Clinic has collected as many medical records as possible in Minnesota's Olmsted County to generate powerful studies that help save lives. The Rochester Epidemiology Project, with nearly 600,000 medical records, has provided groundbreaking information on a variety of conditions. The project is expanding to other counties, which will help researchers broaden its database.
Mayo Clinic wants to expand and is asking state help for city infrastructure. Meanwhile, Rochester is feeling strain from the rapid growth it's already seen.
The chair of a key legislative committee says supporters of a plan that relies on more than $500 million to help the Mayo Clinic expand in Rochester should go back to the drawing table. In a hearing Tuesday, House Taxes Committee chair Ann Lenczewski said she has deep concerns about the plan's financing.
Minnesota's Mayo Clinic wants to secure its position as a leader in the health care industry, and has proposed a $5 billion expansion plan to accomplish that goal. But Mayo faces competition from several well-funded global medical centers, and that's part of the reason the clinic says it needs to build for the future.
Rochester-based Mayo Clinic reports a large decline in its bottom line last year, but officials are still calling the results a solid financial performance. Clinic officials say the drop in income was by design, but is also due in part to a large payment to its pension plan.
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