Stop by New Ulm June 26 and 27 for the city’s annual Auto Fest. This large car, motorcycle and truck show—located in New Ulm on 2403 South Broadway in Maday Motors and Joe’s Camper Sales parking lots—features over 350 vehicles displayed in shimmering rows of shining metal! The event is not judged, so participants are welcome to enter their vehicle whether it’s a family “driver” or detailed custom job. Food and drink sales and a DJ are staples of the event; sometimes a model car show and other highlights such as dyno testing are offered.
To learn more, visit www.autofest.org.
Posted
May 26th 2010 in CGMC Events
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 Civic Center; breakfast will be served. This will be a great opportunity to hear about the challenges that cities will face in 2011 and to begin discussing ways to address them. CGMC members are encouraged to invite non-members who might be interested in learning more about the CGMC. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Colleen Millard at cfmillard@flaherty-hood.com.
Posted
May 19th 2010 in CGMC Events, Uncategorized
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is partnering with the Citizens League to organize 16 regional meetings around the state for May and June. At these meetings, citizens, civic leaders, and interested organizations are invited to participate in a discussion about the future of Minnesota’s parks and trails and funding sources. The locations and schedules for the regional meetings can be found here. These meetings will be a great opportunity to offer your vision for Minnesota’s parks and trails. You are encouraged to share this information with citizens, organizations, and others who might be interested.
Posted
May 19th 2010 in CGMC Events, Parks and Trails
Earlier this morning, the legislature passed its budget deal, which includes no further cuts to LGA and MVC. The bill ratifies the governor’s unallotments to LGA/MVC, and the legislature’s cuts from earlier in the session are still applicable, but the base funding level for city aid programs going forward is not impacted by the final bill.
The budget deal was the result of several negotiation sessions with the governor over the weekend. Reaching an agreement hinged on a dispute over funding and program changes for Medicaid and GAMC. In the end, the governor and the legislative leaders struck a deal through which Governor Pawlenty or the next governor will be able to opt-in to a federal health care program by January 15. Because these negotiations prevented the legislature from voting on the budget deal by midnight, the governor called a special session for Monday to allow both chambers to vote on the bill, which passed in the House by a vote of 97-32 and in the Senate by a vote of 52-14. The governor is expected to sign the bill later today.
In addition to most of the governor’s unallotments being ratified, other features of the bill include an increase in the K-12 education shift from $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion, several accounting changes in the tax area, and no inclusion of over $400 million in anticipated federal funding. Although the state is not counting on this money to balance its budget, many believe that it will eventually be delivered, which will create a reserve fund for the state and likely prevent unallotments of city July and December aid payments.
Because the bill language became available very early this morning, CGMC staff is still reviewing it to see if there are any other impacts to cities (e.g., any language relating to levy limits). As these details become clearer, we will keep you updated via the CGMC website.
Posted
May 17th 2010 in LGA, News, State budget
DFL legislative leaders and Governor Pawlenty reached a budget agreement late Sunday night. The deal will be passed by the legislature during a brief special session that started at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning. The bill contains no new cuts to city aids and credits, but does ratify the governor’s unallotment cuts.
Posted
May 16th 2010 in LGA, News, State 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.
*Assumes additional $30 million reduction in aids and credits is split 50/50 with counties.
These figures beg the question: At what point will cities have played their fair role in helping the state balance its budget? While the state continues to shift its budget problems down to the local level, communities are losing cops, firefighters, library hours, and parks, and property taxpayers are footing an increasing bill for fewer services. Cuts to cities have been disproportionately deep compared to the sacrifices asked of other programs—not because cutting cities is good policy, but because it prolongs the state from making the tough choices necessary for confronting its long-term structural problems. As the legislature crafts a new plan for closing the state’s budget gap, they must acknowledge that excessive cuts to LGA and MVC are dismantling communities across the state and that it’s time to protect these programs from further reductions.
Posted
May 12th 2010 in Jobs, LGA, News, Property Taxes, State budget, Uncategorized
Come to Worthington to enjoy the windsurfers on Lake Okabena, take a windsurfing lesson or two, and relax by the lake with some refreshments and live music. This event will be held June 11-13 at Sailboard Beach, Lake Okabena in Worthington. Learn more at www.worthingtonwindsurfing.com.
Posted
May 11th 2010 in CGMC Events
