Republican legislators like to play cities off against each other in the LGA game, though many greater Minnesota mayors are reluctant to play along.
The editors of the conservative New Ulm Journal are siding with the mayors.
In Not all LGA cities can quit relying on it, the editorial board briefly lays out the case:
Local Government Aid was instituted in Minnesota allow all cities to provide equal services to their citizens without beggaring them with property tax bills. . . .
. . .some LGA cities have weaned themselves from the state aid, relying on their own resources.
Not all cities are in a position to do that, however. New Ulm, for instance, has adjusted its budget, anticipating reductions with spending cuts. But LGA still accounts for about 22 percent of the city's revenue. Local property taxes make up about 25 percent of the local revenue. For New Ulm to forego LGA, it would have to make huge cuts in operations and levy huge increases in property taxes.
New Ulm would be a less pleasant, more expensive place to live...
Read the whole thing at the New Ulm Journal.
Photo: Downtown New Ulm.
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