The City of Montevideo has been careful in budgeting for reduced LGA, but is informing residents that further cuts will impact essential services, such as police and snowplowing. As reported by the Montevideo American-News, the city stands to lose $365,000 under the legislative majority’s current proposal. While the city has a contingency plan for this round of cuts, residents will notice the fall-out of further state aid reductions:

“We’re at a place where we’ve cut everything we can cut,” Jones said. “There is no fat left. We have already reduced staff, which is where the majority of the money is spent.”

To read the full report, click here.

In response to the legislative majority’s budget proposal to cut over $140 million from cities in 2011, mayors across the state are asking their local legislators to work on behalf of their constituents in crafting a fair solution to the state’s budget woes. The City of East Grand Forks, which stands to lose $578,000 under the current proposal, is going one step further and asking its freshman Republican legislators to be leery of the political pressure from caucus leaders to vote against LGA. To read the full report from the Grand Forks Herald, click here.

The Albert Lea Tribune reports today that the area’s local chamber of commerce has signed a resolution in support of the local government aid (LGA) program. The City of Albert Lea stands to lose $1.1 million in state funding under the legislative majority’s current proposal. Asked why the chamber passed the resolution, Executive Director Randy Kehr responded:

“This is a position our board felt we needed to take,” said Randy Kehr, executive director of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce. “We needed to stand up for the businesses and citizens in Freeborn County.”

To read the full article, click here.