Local Government Aid (LGA) is police, fire protection, libraries, safe roads, parks, and more. Cutting LGA, as Gov. Pawlenty has proposed, will result in cuts to core city services and weaken a city's economic health. If you value your city services, contact the governor and your legislators and tell them that cutting LGA is the wrong direction for Minnesota.
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In her March 19th Star Tribune column, Lori Sturdevant writes about the history of LGA and asks what that state would look like now if it had never existed.
State Rep. Linda Runbeck, R-Circle Pines, the House Property Taxes Division’s formidable gavel-wielder and budget hawk, deserves a nod for inspiring the “what if” question I mulled last week:
What if, in 1971, Minnesota had not created local government aid (LGA)?
Read the entire column here
“WILLMAR - The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities is urging the Legislature to retain the 2011 level of local government aid to cities at $527 million, 5 percent less than the amount certified by the state in 2002.
Cities are relying on the state to honor appropriations that local officials used to establish their 2011 budgets, according to a coalition spokesman.”
Read the story here
The Bemidji Pioneer oulines the current budget plan in the House Tax committee. Metro cities and Duluth are targeted for LGA cuts, while rural cities’ LGA remains mostly intact.
Read the story here.