Where does the money go? An explanation of General Fund spending
Minnesota’s November forecast estimates that the state will spend $38.6 billion in the next biennium, which starts July 2011. So where does all the money go? As shown in Chart A, two budget areas alone—K-12 Education and Health and Human Services—account for 71.4% of the [...]
Greater Minnesota Advocate, 1/18/2011
CGMC responds to legislative majority’s budget proposal
Nancy Carroll, Mayor of Park Rapids and President of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, released the following statement today regarding the legislative majority’s budget proposal:
“Released just two weeks into the session, this proposal shortchanges the over 50 new legislators from learning more about the state budget, LGA and this proposals’ impacts on their communities.Â
“We are deeply [...]
Column: LGA provides opportunity for bipartisan cooperation
Reverberations from the November election are still echoing through the Capitol halls, with a Democrat taking over the governor’s office and Republicans taking over the House and Senate, a change that will have big implications for greater Minnesota cities.
Bipartisan group of MyMNBudget.com users favors balanced approach to solving state budget deficit
After a month-long experiment seeking to gauge the state budgeting preferences of Minnesotans, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) released an analysis of budget solutions submitted to their online budget simulator, MyMNBudget.com. The site, which has attracted over 3,600 visitors since being launched last month, allows users to create their own state budgets by raising taxes and/or cutting spending to balance Minnesota’s projected $5.8 billion budget deficit. A key finding of the analysis is that across all party lines, users favored a balanced approach of both spending cuts and tax increases to close the state’s budget gap.
CGMC President: Emmer’s budget plan pulls the plug on property taxpayers
In column published yesterday in the Star Tribune, CGMC President Rick Wolff, who is also the mayor of Hibbing, makes the case that Rep. Tom Emmer’s proposed budget plan would continue to shift the state’s tax burden to property taxpayers. In his plan, Rep. Emmer, who is running as the Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, proposes cutting property tax aids and credits by roughly 33 percent.
Statement on Tom Emmer’s plan to cut $1.1 billion from property tax aids and credits
The following statement was issued this afternoon by Hibbing Mayor Rick Wolff, President of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.
CGMC policy analyst examines complexity, depth of state’s budget problems
In an op-ed column printed in several greater Minnesota newspapers, CGMC senior policy analyst Steve Peterson takes a hard look at the state’s budget woes and urges candidates for governor to come forward with detailed solutions. Steve also points readers to CGMC’s MyMNBudget.com project, an online budget tool that provides everyday Minnesotans with the tools to balance the state’s budget and the information to understand the budget deficit’s full complexity.
