Minnesota - Aid to cities

Aid to cities

By Lori Sturdevant

Last update: May 6, 2010 - 8:07 PM


AID TO CITIES
Leaders fear deeper state cuts

Eighteen mayors and city officials didn't come to the Capitol on Thursday to ask for their lost state aid back -- though they could have. One day before, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unilateral budget cuts of last July, including $192 million in aid to cities, were tossed out by the state Supreme Court.

The local officials said they've already factored that aid reduction into their 2010 budgets. "You're looking at the people who actually have been balancing the state's budget," noted Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. State aid to cities has been cut nearly 30 percent in just the past year.

Rather, the city mayors, managers and council members from around the state asked the Legislature to spare them from still deeper cuts, as lawmakers try one more time to reach agreement on a way to balance the state budget. They can't take any more cuts without damaging their communities' quality of life, they said. They did not address their plea to Pawlenty, explained St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, because they don't believe he will listen.

"He won't be here after this year to deal with the consequences of his cuts. He'll be in Iowa or New Hampshire," Coleman said, referring to key states in the presidential candidate selection process.

By a show of hands, a majority of the 18 said they had already cut police and/or firefighter ranks or training to adjust to cuts in state aid to cities. More public safety cuts will result if the Legislature follows Pawlenty's recommendation this week for another $176 million in cuts in aid to cities and counties, they said. Higher property taxes will also result, they said, though Hutchinson Mayor Steve Cook said he and his peers have already been raising property taxes at as fast a clip as their voters will tolerate.

The mayors added that they are beginning to talk to lawmakers about alternative ways to provide cities with the resources they need to operate, and to deliver services at lower cost. Several mayors of regional centers said they are interested in retaining some of the sales tax revenue they now collect and send to the state. Rybak touted his plan for state incentives that would assist clusters of cities in meeting the transitional costs of combining their local services. Ideas like those are needed now, and should be ingredients in this fall's state election campaigns.