DEED “Road Show” to tout agency’s economic development tools

DEED’s “Road Show” tour, led by agency commissioner Dan McElroy and other agency staff, will visit 11 cities across the state starting June 22 in Rochester. This year’s theme is “New Tools for New Times.”
These tour dates offer local elected officials and others an opportunity to learn more about the agency’s economic development tools, including the [...]

CGMC to present at LMC annual conference

[ June 25, 2010; 7:00 am to 8:00 am. ] Join fellow city officials and CGMC staff members for a recap of the 2010 legislative session and a preview of this year’s summer conference during the annual CGMC breakfast at the League of Minnesota Cities conference in St. Cloud. The meeting will be held June 25 at 7:00 a.m. in the Wilson Suite of the St. Cloud [...]

A 43% reduction? At what point will cities have played their fair role in balancing the state’s budget?

With the governor vetoing a legislative budget plan that would have protected LGA and Market Value Credit (MVC) from further funding cuts in 2010, the legislature will look for ways to redraft their plan in a way that will generate more support from the executive branch. Prior to last week’s unallotment ruling, the governor released a proposal for closing the state’s budget gap in light of delayed federal funding; this plan included an additional $87.5 to $102 million reduction in LGA and MVC for 2010 (an exact cut amount is unknown due to the uncertainty of how cities and counties would split the overall proposed cut to property tax aids and credits). The graph below shows that a cut on the low end of this range—on top of the governor’s 2010 unallotments to LGA and MVC and the legislature’s supplemental cut—would amount to an overall 43% reduction of LGA and MVC in this year alone. Even without the governor’s proposed supplemental cut, LGA and MVC have been reduced 29% in 2010 through unallotment and legislative action.

Statement from CGMC on Governor Pawlenty’s additional cuts to LGA

CGMC Executive Director Tim Flaherty released the following statement to the press regarding Governor Pawlenty’s plan to cut LGA deeper than his original proposal based on the fear that FMAP funding will not be delivered to the state before the session’s adjournment:
For the governor to propose yet another cut to cities shows once again that [...]