# Counties Transit Improvement Board *Joint powers board for transit funding in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area, established 2008 and dissolved 2017.* The Counties Transit Improvement Board (CTIB) was a joint powers board of Twin Cities counties. It was formed in March 2008, administered an estimated $100 million per year in transit money for the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area, and awarded that money to major transit infrastructure projects.[^1] After events in 2016 and 2017, the board's members voted formally to dissolve it, effective September 2017. The counties then replaced the CTIB allocations with transit taxes levied at the county level.[^1] The board grew out of 2008 [[Minnesota]] legislation, enacted over Governor [[Tim Pawlenty]]'s veto. The law let metropolitan counties impose a quarter-cent transit sales tax on condition that they join a joint powers board, and five of the seven eligible counties joined.[^2] Metro Transit's funding breakdown for the $505.3 million Gold Line project, which began service on March 22, 2025, lists the Counties Transit Improvement Board as the source of 1.5% of project funding.[^3] ## Creation House File 2800 was introduced in the Minnesota House on February 12, 2008. It would have imposed a 0.5% sales tax in the seven counties of the Minneapolis–St. Paul Urbanized Area: Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, Washington, Carver and Scott. The proceeds would have been split evenly between transit and highways.[^2] Subsequent engrossments cut the rate to 0.25% and dropped the highway share, so the tax as passed was dedicated to transit.[^2] Under the bill, a county could levy the tax only if its board also entered a joint powers board with the other levying counties.[^2] The House and the Senate both passed the measure on February 21, 2008; the Senate companion was SF 2521. Pawlenty vetoed it on February 22, and both chambers voted to override the veto on February 25.[^2] The county boards then voted individually. On March 25, 2008, Anoka and Ramsey counties voted to join. Those two votes met the legislative minimum of two levying counties needed to create the board. Carver County declined to join on the same day.[^2] On April 1, Dakota, Hennepin and Washington counties adopted the tax and joined, and Scott County declined.[^2] Carver and Scott counties did not become members, although the cited account states that they could have joined at a later date.[^2] ## Purpose, powers, and authority The enabling law gave the board two tasks. It received the transit-tax proceeds collected in member counties, and it awarded those proceeds as grants to capital transit projects in the Twin Cities area.[^4] The board could issue bonds on its own authority, backed by future transit-tax receipts. A county that withdrew had to keep collecting the tax until obligations incurred during its membership were paid off.[^4] The board could also borrow beyond its revenues by working with member counties that chose to use their own bonding authority for CTIB projects.[^4] An eligible project had to meet three conditions. It had to lie inside the taxing district, and it had to conform to the regional long-range transit plan of the [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]]. It also had to respect a small-county guarantee, under which a member supplying under 3% of the board's funding was entitled to at least 3% of grant awards.[^4] Neither Scott nor Carver county levied the tax. For that reason, the cited account describes the guarantee as apparently moot, because the five member counties were expected to exceed the threshold.[^4] Seats on the board went to representatives of each member county and to a representative of the Metropolitan Council, the umbrella organization for Twin Cities–area transit.[^4] When the counties drafted the Joint Powers Agreement, they gave the Metropolitan Council five votes on the board. The cached source text is cut off after that point, and the record here does not establish how votes were allocated among the counties.[^4] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Anoka, Ramsey, Dakota, Hennepin and Washington counties enacted the tax and joined the board. Carver and Scott counties voted not to join.[^2] - Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the legislation, which passed the Senate as SF 2521, on February 22, 2008.[^2] - The board's membership included each member county and a representative of the Metropolitan Council.[^4] ### Where - The taxing district covered the member counties of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area, and the board's grants were limited to projects within that district.[^4] ### What - The enabling legislation created a dedicated 0.25% transit sales tax after highway funding was removed in later engrossments.[^2] - The board granted funds to major transit infrastructure projects.[^1] ### When - House File 2800 was introduced on February 12, 2008.[^2] - The legislature passed the bill on February 21, 2008. The veto followed on February 22, and both houses overrode it on February 25, 2008.[^2] - The counties voted on March 25 and April 1, 2008, and the board was established in March 2008.[^1][^2] - The members' dissolution vote took effect in September 2017.[^1] ### How much - The board controlled an estimated $100 million annually.[^1] - Member counties contributing under 3% of funding were guaranteed at least 3% of grants.[^4] - On the Gold Line, a 10-mile, 16-station project with a total cost of $505.3 million, the funding shares were as follows: Federal Transit Administration 45%, Ramsey County 26%, Washington County 26%, Counties Transit Improvement Board 1.5%, Federal Highway Administration 1%, and State of Minnesota 0.5%.[^3] ### Why - The enabling legislation set the board's purpose as channeling the transit tax into capital transit projects in the Twin Cities.[^4] The sources cited here describe the 2016–2017 events leading to dissolution only as a sequence. They do not establish the reasons for the members' vote.[^1] ## See also - [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]] - [[Minneapolis]] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Counties Transit Improvement Board*, lead section (revision 1381983608, retrieved 2026-10-26) — establishment in March 2008; about $100 million in annual transit funds; grants to major transit projects; members' vote to dissolve effective September 2017; replacement county-level transit taxes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_Transit_Improvement_Board [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Counties Transit Improvement Board*, "Creation" section (revision 1381983608, retrieved 2026-10-26) — terms of House File 2800 and SF 2521; passage on February 21, veto on February 22, and override on February 25, 2008; county votes of March 25 and April 1, 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_Transit_Improvement_Board [^3]: Metro Transit, *Gold Line facts* (undated web page) — total project cost of $505.3 million; funding shares including the Counties Transit Improvement Board at 1.5%; 10 miles and 16 stations; service began March 22, 2025. https://www.metrotransit.org/gold-line-facts [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Counties Transit Improvement Board*, "Purpose, Powers, and Authority" section (revision 1381983608, retrieved 2026-10-26) — the board's grant purpose, bonding authority, withdrawal obligation, project conditions, 3% guarantee, and membership, including the Metropolitan Council's five votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_Transit_Improvement_Board