• 01Apr

  Marshall Independent: Mayors put up united front for LGA

  LGA, Libraries, News Leave a Comment

  The Marshall Independent reported on a March 30 conference call of mayors from large and small Minnesota cities.  The mayors of Granite Falls, Cloquet, St. Paul and Minneapolis spoke out about possible cuts to LGA and how essential it is to providing basic services.

  [Cloquet Mayor Bruce] Ahlgren said his city is already feeling heavy burdens because of budget problems. He said the city has reduced staff through attrition and has combined positions so one person is doing the job of two; there also been pay freezes there, furloughs and shortened hours at the library.

  “The next thing we would end up having to do if we lose LGA, we’d have to cut public safety, that’s something no one wants to do,” he said. “We need LGA to continue. You can come here and look at our streets and tell we don’t have money to fix our infrastructure.”

  Read the Marshall Independent story here

  The West Central Tribune also reported on the conference call here

• 27Oct

  MinnPost: Can small town Minnesota survive further aid cuts?

  Community Pools, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Parks & Recreation, Police, Property Taxes, Street Maintenance Leave a Comment

  As its population ages and state aid continues to shrink, rural Minnesota may struggle to sustain essential city services for residents, according to a MinnPost report. In the City of Wheaton, a small town of nearly 1,500 along the western edge of the state, deep state aid cuts have had a very real impact on the city’s lean budget:

  …[H]ere’s what it has meant for a city that was expecting about $700,000 in Local Government Aid but lost about 12 percent of it: Wheaton didn’t fill a public works supervisor position; it transferred the utility billing clerk off the city payroll; the city administrator must take unpaid leave every Friday afternoon and a week furlough annually; street repaving has been delayed or abandoned; library hours were cut; some upgrades to city facilities to abide by the Americans With Disabilities Act were delayed.

  In addition to service cuts, the city has raised its levy by 19 percent since 2007. Struggling to maintain an adequate level of services at an affordable price to its residents, the City of Wheaton is finding itself in a situation that many small cities across the state know well: in order for the city to thrive again, it must increase its tax base by attracting young families and new businesses. However, without sufficient funding, the city cannot invest in the infrastructure and quality-of-life services that new residents and businesses demand. Continue reading »

• 14Sep

  No silver bullet for solving city financial woes

  City Stories, Community Pools, Firefighters, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Parks & Recreation, Police, Property Taxes, Senior Centers, Snowplowing, State Budget, Street Maintenance Leave a Comment

  Raising property taxes, laying off employees, cutting services, increasing fees and consolidating services with neighboring cities. These are all tactics that greater Minnesota cities are exploring as they weather a financial crisis caused by factors such as declining state aid, aging populations and decreasing property values. Minnesota Public Radio’s Ground Level blog is currently examining the issues facing cities as they piece together their budgets for 2011 and reports that after years of budget cuts, cities have few easy options to pursue. This is a must-read series that anyone interested in the future stability of cities should read. Below are selected entries of particular interest:

  • Angst-filled cities look for budget cuts, new ways to do things, 9/14/2010
  • Local government aid 101, 9/9/2010
  • Cities scrape for dollars, even in police budgets, 9/3/2010
• 03Jun

  With LGA in jeopardy, editorials question viability of rural MN

  2010 Election, Firefighters, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Police, Property Taxes, Snowplowing, State Budget Leave a Comment

  In the past week, editorial boards from greater Minnesota newspapers have been weighing in on state actions that have significantly reduced their communities’ state funding dollars. Programs like LGA and Market Value Credit (MVC) help alleviate property tax disparities that exist between rural Minnesota and wealthier communities, which in turn strengthens the economic viability of the state as a whole. These programs also help communities provide essential services like police, fire protection, libraries, parks, and safe roads while keeping property taxes affordable. With the state having cut LGA by over $1 billion since 2002, communities that receive LGA are sacrificing quality-of-life services and asking property taxpayers to pay more for less, causing editorial writers to question the direction in which lawmakers are taking greater Minnesota.

  The Mankato Free Press is concerned that LGA cuts will negatively impact the business climate in rural Minnesota, which is dependent on affordable property tax rates in order to attract and retain small businesses. Continue reading »

• 21May

  Star Tribune: Cuts to LGA taking a toll on police, critical services

  Firefighters, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Police, Property Taxes, Snowplowing, State Budget Leave a Comment

  The Star Tribune Editorial Board weighed in today on the results of deep cuts to LGA that Minnesota lawmakers have made over the past years. Across the state, the editorial says, cities are cutting essential public safety and quality-of-life services such as library hours, parks, and safe roads.

  Reductions in city services have become so commonplace in Minnesota that they barely attract local mention, let alone notice at the State Capitol. State aid cuts and freezes since 2003 and declining property values since 2008 have wrung things deemed easily expendable out of the budgets of cities all across the map.

  But after the 2010 Legislature’s latest $66 million cut and its affirmation of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s $150 million unallotment of state aid to cities, decisions are being made in Minnesota’s city halls that ought to get state lawmakers’ attention. The services that city leaders typically protect when budgets get tight—police and fire—are on the chopping block now.

  Read the full editorial here.

• 19Apr

  Libraries, public land, pools, and community centers all on the chopping block

  City Stories, Community Pools, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Senior Centers Leave a Comment

  News reports from across the state are echoing the same theme: cities continue to make difficult decisions as they budget with fewer LGA dollars. In many cases, these decisions will have a lasting impact on the strength and affordability of Minnesota’s communities. Below are just a few snapshots of what LGA cuts look like.

  According to the Pioneer Press, metro area libraries are feeling the sting of state aid cuts. Because most libraries are funded through city revenue streams, the loss of LGA over the past decade has dried up library resources. While most libraries across the state have reduced hours, book-buying budgets, and employee costs, some small metro libraries may consolidate with those in nearby larger cities or are already shrinking in size to accommodate sharing space with other city programs, such as recreation centers. These service reductions come during a time when many libraries are reporting their largest usership rates. Continue reading »

• 09Apr

  How are cities adjusting budgets now that LGA cuts are law?

  Firefighters, Jobs, LGA, Libraries, News, Police, Senior Centers, Snowplowing, State Budget Leave a Comment

  With Governor Pawlenty signing the legislature’s supplemental budget bill into law last week, cities across the state are engaging in budget cutting discussions now that they have a clearer sense of their state aid reductions. Under the bill, LGA  and the Market Value Homestead Credit will be cut by $52.5 million in 2010 and $56.5 million in 2011. This is a vast improvement on the governor’s original budget proposal, which would have cut these programs by $125 million in 2010 and $252 million in 2011.

  It’s difficult to imagine the consequences of the governor’s proposal on Minnesota’s communities considering that the legislature’s smaller cuts will still have a significant impact on essential city services and the affordability of being a city resident. Years of repeated cuts to LGA have left cities with few budget-cutting options to choose from—reserves are drained, hiring freezes are in place, capital equipment and improvements have been delayed. Below are just a few examples gathered since the budget bill signing of how cities are adjusting their 2010 budgets in the wake of these most recent cuts. Continue reading »

• 16Mar

  Editorials weigh in on local pain of LGA cuts

  LGA, Libraries, News, Property Taxes Leave a Comment

  Proposed cuts to library services spurred editorial writers from the Ely Timberjay and Mankato Free Press to offer their thoughts on the future of essential services in their cities in light of possible LGA reductions. For Ely, the library’s share of the governor’s proposed LGA cuts would mean a severe drop in services: Continue reading »

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