Burnsville will host a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday evening as it embarks on a three-year,  multi-million dollar renovation project to address its police and city hall needs for the next 30 years.

The Police City Hall renovation project, which will cost an estimated $98.5 million, will modernize the existing facility at 100 Civic Center Parkway and more than double its square footage to allow for more efficient operations, training and enhanced security, said Burnsville Parks, Recreation and Facilities Director Garrett Beck.

The roadmap for the renovation stems from an 18-month space study that was conducted in September 2022. The study identified deficiencies with police and city hall operations that could be alleviated with an additional 110,000 square feet of space to carry out services.

A growing police force, the hiring of a training sergeant, establishing a behavior health unit, hiring social workers and more collaboration with the fire department to address mental health calls have all added to the need for additional space, Beck said.

“Space has been repurposed beyond its intended use, like using our only training room and closets to house the behavioral health unit,” according to the city’s project page. “This longstanding practice has resulted in current space and operational deficiencies.”

By renovating the current 95,500-square-foot facility, which was built in 1988, Beck said the city will “avoid millions of dollars in repair and updates.”

Funding for the project will come from franchise fees on gas and electric utilities, Beck said, which the utility providers can pass on to customers.

For residential properties, the project will see a fee increase of $4 per month, while commercial properties will vary, Beck said.

Franchise fees were first implemented on gas and electric utilities by the Burnsville City Council in 2016 to avoid raising property taxes for capital improvements, according to city documents.

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The city is working with CNH Architects and Kraus Anderson on the project, which will be completed in three phases so the city can continue its services in their existing locations.

Phase one is expected to last 14 months and will see the build out and construction of the new spaces, Beck said. Phase two is expected to start next summer and will see the renovation of the current police facilities. The final phase will renovate the spaces that city staff are currently working out of, Beck said, to allow for a smoother transition.

The tentative completion date for the project is March 2028.

Burnsville Police City Hall groundbreaking

What: Groundbreaking ceremony with music, Fully Loaded BBQ food truck, bounce houses and more
When: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, May 22
Where: Burnsville City Hall at 100 Civic Center Parkway
Watch live: http://pipr.es/vrNqYMo

By CORA LEWIS

NEW YORK (AP) — More Klarna customers are having trouble repaying their “buy now, pay later” loans, the short-term lender said this week. The disclosure corresponded with reports by lending platforms Bankrate and LendingTree, which cited an increasing share of all “buy now, pay later” users saying they had fallen behind on payments.

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The late or missed installments are a sign of faltering financial health among a segment of the US population, some analysts say, as the nation’s total consumer debt rises to a record $18.2 trillion and the Trump administration moves to collect on federal student loans.

Shoppers who opt to finance purchases through BNPL services tend to be younger than the average consumer, and a study from the Federal Reserve last year said Black and Hispanic women were especially likely to use the plans, which customers of all income levels are increasingly adopting.

“While BNPL provides credit to financially vulnerable consumers, these same consumers may be overextending themselves,” the authors of the Federal Reserve study wrote. “This concern is consistent with previous research that has shown consumers spend more when BNPL is offered when checking out and that BNPL use leads to an increase in overdraft fees and credit card interest payments and fees.”

As Klarna grows its user base and revenue, the Swedish company said its first-quarter consumer credit losses rose 17% compared to the January-March period of last year, to $136 million.

A company spokesperson said in a statement that the increase largely reflected the higher number of loans Klarna made year over year. The percentage of its loans at a global level that went unpaid in the first quarter grew from 0.51% in 2024 to 0.54% this year, and the company sees “no sign of a weakened U.S. consumer,” he said.

More consumers are using ‘buy now, pay later’ plans

Buy now, pay later plans generally let consumers split payments for purchases into four or fewer installments, often with a down payment at checkout. The loans are typically marketed as zero-interest, and most require no credit check or a soft credit check.

BNPL providers promote the plans as a safer alternative to traditional credit cards when interest rates are high. The popularity of the deferred payment plans, and the expanding ways customers can use them, have also sparked public attention.

When Klarna announced a partnership with DoorDash in March, the news led to online comments about Americans taking out loans to buy takeout food. Similar skepticism emerged when Billboard revealed that more than half of Coachella attendees used installment plans to finance their tickets to the music festival.

An April report from LendingTree said about four in ten users of buy now, pay later plans said they had made late payments in the past year, up from one in three last year. According to a May report from Bankrate, about one in four users of the loans chose them because they were easier to get than traditional credit cards.

The six largest BNPL providers — Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle, and Zip — originated about 277.3 million loans for $33.8 billion in merchandise in 2022, or an amount equal to about 1% of credit card spending that year, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

An industry that is coming under less regulatory scrutiny

The federal agency said this month it did not intend to enforce a Biden-era regulation that was designed to put more boundaries around the fintech lenders.

The rule treated buy now, pay later loans like traditional credit cards under the Truth In Lending Act, requiring disclosures, refund processing, a formal dispute process and other protections.

The regulation, which took effect last year, also prevented borrowers from being forced into automatic payments or charged with multiple fees for the same missed payment.

The Trump administration said its non-enforcement decision came “in the interest of focusing resources on supporting hard-working American taxpayers” and that it would “instead keep its enforcement and supervision resources focused on pressing threats to consumers, particularly servicemen and veterans.”

Consumer advocates maintain that without federal oversight, customers seeking refunds or in search of clear information about BNPL fee structures and interest rates will have less legal recourse.

There are risks to taking out installment loans

Industry watchers point to consumers taking out loans they can’t afford to pay back as a top risk of BNPL use. Without credit bureaus keeping track of the new form of credit, there are fewer safeguards and less oversight.

Justine Farrell, chair of the marketing department at the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business, said that when consumers aren’t able to make loan payments on time, it worsens the economic stress they’re already experiencing.

“Consumers’ financial positions feel more spread thin than they have in a long time,” said Farrell, who studies consumer behavior and BNPL services. “The cost of food is continuing to go up, on top of rent and other goods … so consumers are taking advantage of the ability to pay for items later.”

The Consumer Federation of America and other watchdog organizations have expressed concern about the rollback of BNPL regulation as the use of the loans continues to rise.

“By taking a head-in-the-sand approach to the new universe of fintech loans, the new CFPB is once again favoring Big Tech at the expense of everyday people,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America.

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

The Twins have so often been on the other end of it over the past few years, watching the Guardians raucously celebrate a walk-off win as victory slipped away from their hands.

Wednesday, they returned the favor.

It took nearly two full days to do it, but the Twins and Guardians finally finished Monday night’s game, playing through chilly temperatures and misty rain on Wednesday afternoon in downtown Minneapolis. After two rain delays Monday and a postponement on Tuesday, the two teams picked up in the fourth inning on Wednesday, with the Twins, who were leading 2-1 at the time the game resumed, eventually coming out on top in a 6-5 walk-off win.

Kody Clemens’ ninth-inning double came after the Guardians had scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game.

“I got some consistent playing time and finally got on time with my swing,” Clemens said. “It’s been a blessing.”

The Twins were one strike away victory earlier in the inning when Bo Naylor smacked a double off the wall in right field off Jhoan Duran, bringing home a pair of runs. The inning had started with Joe Ryan, who was on the mound when the game resumed, allowing a double and a walk before making way for Duran.

Duran couldn’t extract the Twins from the jam.

“Wish we could’ve just closed it out cleanly, but it’s kind of fun to go out there and do your thing,” Ryan said. “Maybe it’s a good thing, burned their reliever there, too. Can look at a positive from that.”

While the Guardians (25-22) decided on a bullpen day for the resumption of the game, the Twins (27-21) rode starter Joe Ryan into the ninth inning. Ryan gave up a home run to former teammate Carlos Santana, who initially showed bunt in his fourth-inning at-bat before blasting Ryan’s sixth pitch of the at-bat pitch out to right. That home run tied the game 2-2 at the time.

“It was tough,” Ryan said of his day. “I’ve been grinding through some stuff for a while now. I think the antibiotics that I’m on right now — I didn’t even wake up for a while so it was kind of hard to get going. … But defense did great, offense was awesome, so, great to get another win.”

The Twins had retaken the lead in the fourth inning after Santana’s home run and they held it until the top of the ninth.

Outfielder Trevor Larnach led off the inning with a single and ended up scoring when Clemens, pinch hitting, hit a ball toward center that outfielder Nolan Jones dove for, despite having seemingly no chance at catching the ball. Larnach scored on the play, and Clemens wound up on third. He scored immediately after on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly. Bader would drive in another run in the eighth inning, bringing home pinch-runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr.

The Twins’ earlier two runs came on RBI knocks from the Ty France in the first inning and Willi Castro in the second off Cleveland starter Logan Allen on Monday. Bailey Ober, who started the game initially, gave up a run in the first inning. He pitched three innings in between rain delays before the game was suspended.

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