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 »

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

In today’s issue of the Fargo-Moorhead Forum, the paper’s editorial board praises the city council for voting to rebuild a park shelter and repair a city-owned building that houses a local art museum. A livable city, the paper notes, is more than public safety and safe roads; support for quality-of-life services such as parks and the arts are what makes a city a community. For greater Minnesota cities, which tend to have smaller tax bases than their Twin Cities counterparts, funding these quality of life services without the support of LGA would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. To read the full editorial, click here.