2013-09-01 Eagan Business NewsJ O U R N A L O F T H E E A G A N B U S I N E S S C O M M U N I T Y
Third Quarter 2013 Vol. 12 No. 3
BusinessNewsEagan
C
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Is that the City’s
hydrant or yours?
Vpage 3
Eagan businesses
say “I do” to
same-sex weddings
i n s i d e t h i s i s s u e
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Briefly:
Eagan businesses
in the news
page 1
Business leaders
work to repeal
new warehouse tax
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Business leaders work
to repeal new warehouse tax
At the close of the 2013 Minnesota legislative
session, Richard Murphy added a new task
to his already weighted load of overseeing
Murphy Warehouse, a full-service, supply-
chain, logistics company. His charge? To
convince lawmakers to repeal a new 6.875%
warehouse-services sales tax voted into law
in the final hours of the session.
The new law, which kicks in April 1, 2014,
taxes business-related warehousing and
storage services in Minnesota. If it stands,
the state will be the only one in the country to
tax such services. Unfortunately, the new tax
gives an upper hand to border states that do
not tax storage and warehousing.In addition,
because typical logistics industry margins
range from 3% to 5%, warehouse companies
can’t afford the tax, says Vicki Stute,presi-
dent of the Dakota County Regional Chamber
of Commerce.
Since then, Murphy has met with Governor
Mark Dayton and other key legislators,
urging the law’s repeal; he has hosted four
coalition meetings — which included the
Chamber, legislators and local businesses —
at his Eagan Logistics Campus; and he has
encouraged other warehouse owners and
operators to contact lawmakers.
“From the Governor to local legislators, most
have expressed to me a desire to repeal the
warehouse tax law now that they better under-
stand the ripple effects across the state’s
economy,” says Murphy, president and CEO
of the 109-year-old, family-owned business.
“They better understand the fluid geographic
nature of warehouse-location decisions, the
continued on page 2
Vicki Stute (from left) (Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce), Michele
Engdahl (Thomson Reuters), Richard Murphy (Murphy Warehouse), Minnesota State
Representative Laurie Halverson and John Tapper (Gopher Resource) were among
the attendees meeting at Murphy Warehouse in Eagan to discuss the repeal of the
new warehouse tax. The Chamber is continuing to facilitate discussions with area
businesses and elected officials. To learn more, visit dcrchamber.com.
2 Eagan Business NEWS
J O U R N A L O F T H E E A G A N B U S I N E S S C O M M U N I T Y
Warehouse tax continued from page 1
Third Quarter 2013
support our warehouse industry provides businesses in
Minnesota and the impact on jobs. They also have come
to realize how the industrial real-estate community will be
impacted and the loss of real-estate taxes. We are very hopeful
that the legislature and the government will repeal the tax.”
Rep. Laurie Halverson,who has authored a bill to repeal
the tax, agrees: “[Logistics] is a big piece of our economy in
Eagan,” says the first-term DFL House rep for district 51B.
“The impact in our community could be big, and so I’m
working to bring [business] concerns to the leadership.
And the leadership is listening.”
Halverson, plus other legislators and business leaders, had hoped
that a repeal of the tax would be imminent this September
during a Special Session. But decision makers decided to
keep the Special Session’s focus narrowed on disaster relief,
and so, the repeal, if it happens, will have to wait until the next
regular session, which begins February 25, 2014.
In the meantime, business owners are dealing with the potential
ramification if the law isn’t repealed. “As they’re planning and
budgeting for 2014, they need to talk about potential
impacts,” says Stute, who adds that Strategic Warehousing in
Eagan has already chosen to expand in Iowa rather than in
Minnesota. “The company wasn’t willing to wait [for a potential
repeal],” she says. “They needed to accommodate their
customer. The more legislators can hear these stories, the
greater the impact they’ll understand if this isn’t repealed.”
Other business leaders concur. “This new tax will be a very
significant cost increase for our customers, and many of them
have either put their business plans on hold or are already
planning to move their businesses across the border to
Wisconsin, Iowa, North or South Dakota,” said Stephen
Gundale,director of corporate communications at Dart
Advantage Warehousing, in a Chamber press release.
Asked about the chance that he will move his business,
Murphy says it’s a possibility. “We have continued to explore
options such as Des Moines and Hudson [Wisconsin] after
being contacted by their development agencies and, in one
case, a state legislator,” he says. “I also have been invited to
meet as part of a business group with Governor Walker of
Wisconsin in early October. If the tax stays in place, we will
be forced to move select parts of our operation in order to
stay competitive.”■
Is that the City’s
hydrant or yours?
The City of Eagan begins offering fire hydrant
maintenance for a small fee.
— our roads, parking lots, fire hydrants and more —
rather than let our infrastructure fall into disrepair.”
Thomson Reuters owns 35 hydrants in Eagan; employees
keep the hydrants painted as needed, physically inspect
them every month and conduct twice-a-year flow tests, which
include opening the hydrants, exercising all valves and flushing
the system. In the winter, employees place a reflective post
at each hydrant and keep the hydrants clear from snow.
Jon Durand,director of Thomson Reuters’ facility
operations, says that while the company’s insurance provider
is chiefly “concerned with the physical plant and buildings
we own, we are concerned for our employees. We want to
ensure the fire department has a water source.”
To learn more about maintaining your business’s infrastructure,
including fire hydrants, Matthys invites business owners to
contact the Public Works Department at 651-675-5200.
In the meantime, watch for the letter from the City of Eagan.
Then you can better determine who is responsible for the fire
hydrant(s) near your business and how to proceed to ensure
their upkeep.
“You can’t protect [your business] in the case of a fire without
hydrants,” says Durand. “As a best practice and for the safety
of employees and the well-being of your business, just do it.”
For more information, check your mail for a City of Eagan
letter regarding fire hydrants in late September.
Imagine:A fire breaks out in your business, you call
911 and the firefighters arrive in moments, with
sirens blaring. But your fire hydrants don’t work.
Many business owners assume their municipality is responsible
for the inspection and maintenance of fire hydrants located
near their business. That’s true if the fire hydrants are on
public property. But if fire hydrants are located on private
property, that business is responsible for their maintenance
and upkeep. In Eagan, there are 529 private fire hydrants.
This misunderstanding is prompting the City of Eagan to not
only alert business owners via a letter this fall, but also to
offer routine maintenance of privately owned fire hydrants
for a small fee. This includes system flushing, which helps
protect the integrity of Eagan’s high-quality water system.
Each business choosing to accept this service would pay
a $36 annual fee and, to prevent infringement on private
property, would need to provide their permission each year.
“From City, City Council, public and private perspectives,”
says Russ Mathys,Public Works director, “it’s in all of our
best interests to maintain our investments in infrastructure
The owner of Tami’s FastFrame on Cliff Lake Road also signed
on to the new website. “We’re perfectly comfortable working
with same-sex couples,” says Tami Phillippi,who adds that
she’s been framing commitment-ceremony photos for years.
Listing her business on Wedding Equality Minnesota also
presented an opportunity to build her business’s online
presence, which includes a website, Pinterest, Facebook, a
blog and more. “Fifty percent or more of my new business is
coming from the Internet,” she says.
“Business owners interested in being listed on
weddingequalitymn.com are invited to visit the website,”
says Jensen. “We just ask people to affirm that they are really
interested in supplying services for same-sex couples.”■
Minnesota legislation legalizing marriage for same-sex couples
is bringing not just a cultural change but a business opportunity.
It is estimated that nearly half of the 10,000 same-sex couples
in Minnesota will marry within the next three years. That’s
5,000 couples who need cakes, flowers, photos and more.
In fact, same-sex weddings in Minnesota are expected to bring
an estimated $42 million to the state — plus $3 million in tax
revenue — according to the Williams Institute, a national think
tank at UCLA School of Law.
Those statistics helped spark a new website, Wedding Equality
Minnesota (www.weddingequalitymn.com). Launched in late
June, the free online directory featured nearly 400 same-sex-
friendly, wedding-related businesses, including a few in Eagan,
by mid August.
“We wanted to provide a place where folks might find business
owners who are super willing to work with same-sex couples,”
says Eric Jensen,communications director of Project 515,
a Minnesota nonprofit that works to ensure equal rights for
same-sex couples and their families.
Signing up for Wedding Equality
Minnesota was a “no-brainer”
for Christine Anderson,
who volunteered last year for
Minnesota United for All Families.
The owner of Christine’s Floral
Touch, a full-service floral
business in Eagan, welcomed the
chance to list her eight-year-old
company. “It’s great to have this
kind of resource for couples to
find vendors who are excited to
work with them,” she says.
Third Quarter 2013J O U R N A L O F T H E E A G A N B U S I N E S S C O M M U N I T Y
Eagan businesses say “I do” to same-sex weddings
Eagan Business NEWS 3g EBN is printed on paper which contains a minimum of 10% post consumer fiber.
“It’s great to have this kind of resource for
couples to find vendors who are excited to
work with them.”
— Christine Anderson, Christine’s Floral Touch
Note:Refusing to offer a business service to a
customer based on sexual orientation has been out-
lawed under the Minnesota Human Rights Act since
1993. Now that same-sex couples can wed, that means
any business offering wedding services, such as wedding
planning, catering, cake decorating and floral design,
must offer their services to same-sex and opposite-sex
couples alike. It’s the law.
Anderson began learning her trade in high school while
working at Ivy Lane Flowers in the Cedar Grove area. Today,
this award-winning florist hopes to serve more same-sex
couples; already she’s been contacted by a couple via the
website. While there was an initial rush in August, she says,
now she hopes couples are saying, “‘Okay, let’s plan the
wedding we’ve always dreamed of.’ Flowers come a little later
in the [wedding-planning] process.”
Christine Anderson, owner
of Christine’s Floral Touch.
Tami Phillippi, owner of Tami’s FastFrame.
Eagan
4 Eagan Business NEWS
Business News
3830 Pilot Knob Road ●Eagan, MN 55122
Editor Karin B. Miller, Working Words, Inc.
Designer Brent Kastler, Illumine Associates, Inc.
Send comments and story ideas to EBN@cityofeagan.com.
Briefly:Eagan businesses in the news
Free seminar on Internet connectivity
Thanks to AccessEagan and its 16 miles of high-capacity fiber
throughout Eagan’s central business districts, businesses have
greater access to affordable fiber than ever before.
That’s why the City of Eagan is inviting business managers and
IT professionals to attend “Getting More Internet Bang for Your
Business Buck,” a free informational seminar. AccessEagan providers
— Frontier Communications, Velocity Telephone and Arvig —
will offer information on super-fast uploads and downloads, the
importance of redundancy, the ability of high-capacity broadband to
grow with your business, bandwidth options, the cloud and more.
To attend this free seminar, contact info@accesseagan.com or call
651-675-5150. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 25,
from 7:30 to 9 a.m., at the Eagan Community Center, 1501 Central
Parkway. Coffee and muffins will be provided.
• BUSINESS:Cupcake,the Minneapolis restaurant made famous
on the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars,plans to open a new
restaurant in the former Pardon My French location in Eagan.…
Power Systems Research,an international market research firm,
is adding a 1,200-square-foot lab to its 25,000-square-foot Eagan
headquarters.… Stream Global Services,an Eagan-based
company with 55 call service centers in 22 countries, purchased
N2SP Tunisie, a Tunisian company that offers tech support to
European customers.… Zep Inc.— perhaps best known for its
car-cleaning chemicals — opened its 12,000-square-foot corporate
headquarters in Eagan in August.
• GOVERNMENT:The City Council approved a drive-through for
the Associated Healthcare Credit Union at Yankee Square.…
The City of Eagan and the St. Paul Port Authority have teamed up
to offer Property Assessed Clean Energy loans for business property
owners who wish to make energy-efficiency and renewable-energy
improvements.… The Eagan Economic Development Authority
ratified the real-estate purchase agreement for The Flats by
Stonebridge Communities in the Cedar Grove Redevelopment
Area. Also, the City Council approved the planned development for
this 190-apartment complex, with 11,000 square feet of retail. ■
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(page 1 Business leaders work to
repeal new warehouse tax
page 2 Is that the City’s hydrant or yours?
C page 4 Briefly: Eagan businesses in the news
V page 3 Eagan businesses say “I do”
to same-sex weddings
i n s i d e t h i s i s s u e