The Cities Category Archive: Budget

No money this session for Southwest Corridor LRT

Posted at 5:49 PM on May 10, 2012 by Jessica Mador (4 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Transportation

The 2012 legislative session ended with no bond funding for the proposed Southwest Corridor Light Rail project. Business leaders, Met Council and transit advocates have been pushing lawmakers to allocate $25 million to the project, which has federal permission to enter preliminary engineering.

Peter McLaughlin, chair of the Counties Transit Improvement Board, said the failure to fund Southwest is shortsighted. He called the legislature's move "a setback" but said it won't stop the project's progress.

"We'll figure out a way," he said. "I'm not sure what that path is yet but we are working on it."

McLaughlin said SWLRT will begin preliminary engineering as proponents continue to lobby for funding. He added it's a key project for building out the Twin Cities' transit infrastructure.

TwinWest Chamber President Bruce Nustad said SWLRT could help the region's economy :

"This project is critical to adding 60,000 new long-term, private sector jobs to the Twin Cities. In addition to supporting current and new jobs, the project will improve our region's quality of life, reduce traffic congestion, and efficiently get Minnesotans to work and school. The bonding bill allocated $47.5 million to the Department of Employment and Economic Development for grants to cities, counties, and other local governments for projects to spur job growth. We will make the business case for this project to officials at DEED. We hope to secure the support needed to keep this important jobs and economic development project moving."

And Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh said this:

"The urgent need for this line requires that we begin exploring other temporary funding alternatives to keep the project on track until the 2013 legislature has the opportunity to fund the state's share of the project. In the coming weeks, I'll be talking with our local funding partners and the Dayton Administration about how to keep Southwest Light Rail progressing and how to ensure the project remains competitive for federal dollars."

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Rybak's staffers really like their jobs

Posted at 5:10 PM on March 29, 2012 by Curtis Gilbert (1 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Minneapolis, Politics

R.T. Rybak must be a pretty good boss. The Minneapolis mayor's office received the highest marks of any department on the city's 2011 Employee Engagement Survey, whose results were released today.

The mayor is responsible for only 11 employees (although the overachievers in his office somehow managed 12 survey responses), but all of them say they're "extremely satisfied" with their jobs.

In fact, there was only one area on the 68-question survey where a majority of Rybak's staff gave the gig a thumbs-down: the paycheck. Almost two-thirds of them say they're underpaid. Welcome to the club.

Now for the bad news

The most dissatisfied workers in city government are the firefighters. Only three percent of them think they have enough bodies in the department to get their jobs done. A whopping six percent think city leaders care about their abysmal morale.

Since 2001, Minneapolis has cut 71 firefighters from the department -- about 15 percent of the force. The city installed a new fire chief this year. Clearly, John Fruetel has his work cut out for him.

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Minneapolis mayor fires back on stadiums

Posted at 8:35 AM on February 2, 2012 by Tim Nelson (3 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Minneapolis

A week after a chilly reception for his stadium proposal in front of the City Council, and a day after a shot-across-the-bow from St. Paul, Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak is rising to the defense of his plan.

Rybak sent out the following "Dear Friend" letter via email, explaining why the city needs to put $315 million into a Vikings stadium and another $100 million into Target Center, despite the 1997 charter amendment that caps the city's spending on professional sports venues at $10 million.

Here's what he had to say:

Dear Friend,

As you probably know, City Council President Barbara Johnson and I have proposed a plan to lower property taxes in Minneapolis, fund the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Target Center, and contribute to a new Vikings stadium at the Metrodome. And we do all this by using existing Minneapolis sales and user taxes for Minneapolis -- without raising any new taxes.

Why have we proposed this plan? Why is it worth the fight?

We've proposed this plan because it's a good deal for Minneapolis taxpayers. And we've proposed it because without it, Minneapolis taxpayers could well end up with a raw deal.

That's the difference between being at the table fighting for something -- or walking away, not fighting and getting nothing, or worse.
3-for-1 plan for property-tax relief

I've said it over and over: property taxes in Minneapolis are too high. That's why the City Council and I passed zero increase in the City's property taxes for 2012.

We've worked hard to hold the line on property taxes in Minneapolis, despite drastic State cuts to our budget over many years: we've cut our own spending (now 9% lower than 10 years ago) and we fixed the broken closed-pension system that was the major driver of property-tax increases in recent years. In the process, we've paid down $183 million in debt and restored the City's AAA credit rating.

But an ongoing drain on Minneapolis property taxes has been Target Center. Despite the fact that Target Center is a facility of statewide importance, only Minneapolis property-tax payers have been on the hook to pay off Target Center's debt, to the tune of $5 million a year.

That's just wrong. But despite the fact that the City Council and I have lobbied for years to get this burden off Minneapolis taxpayers' backs, the State has not acted -- and without a change, Minneapolis taxpayers alone will keep paying Target Center's debt until 2025.

Now, for the first time -- and only because Council President Johnson and I have been at the table fighting for a solution to the Vikings stadium -- we have a realistic plan to move the burden of Target Center debt off the backs of Minneapolis property taxpayers and share it with all of the 18,000,000 people who visit and spend money in Minneapolis every year. And we can do it without raising any new taxes on anyone.

By keeping in Minneapolis existing, State-authorized sales and user taxes that are already collected here and currently dedicated to the Minneapolis Convention Center, we will not only lower property taxes on Minneapolis homeowners and business owners: we will continue to keep the Convention Center competitive, renovate the Target Center, and help find a solution for a new home for the Vikings. That solution includes a $1-billion new investment in our city that will create thousands of good jobs in the construction, service and hospitality industries.

What happens if we're not at the table fighting for Minneapolis?

Some say that Minneapolis should just walk away from the table and not be part of this discussion. But this point of view turns a blind eye to reality -- that the Legislature controls Minneapolis' taxes and Minneapolis' fate.

The existing taxes that Council President Johnson and I want to use for property-tax relief, for Target Center and the Convention Center, as well as for a new stadium, are ones that the Legislature has the power simply to take from Minneapolis at will.

If we were not at the table fighting to solve these long-standing stadium issues, the Legislature could -- and in all likelihood, would -- simply apply our taxes entirely to a new Vikings stadium, leaving Minneapolis homeowners out in the cold and still paying for Target Center debt. This would also leave the Convention Center and Target Center financially unsustainable, damage our strong hospitality economy and create even more of a burden for Minneapolis taxpayers.

That's why we're at the table, fighting for Minneapolis: because there, we can strike the best deal for Minneapolis taxpayers. If we weren't there, who would fight for Minneapolis?

Our only choice: being part of the solution

When we face a problem in Minneapolis, we don't walk away from it -- we roll up our sleeves, listen to each other and try to solve it together. That's the Minneapolis way, and that's the way we're working toward a solution to the long-standing property tax/stadium/jobs issue. But being part of the solution is Minneapolis' only choice.

As we stay at the table and keep fighting for our city, I encourage you keep listening, ask questions and look closely at our plan to lower property taxes, build a stronger economy and keep Minneapolis taxes benefitting Minneapolis.

Mayor R.T. Rybak
City of Minneapolis

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Fiscal sage Gunyou ready to close the books

Posted at 10:56 AM on January 10, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Business

John Gunyou says he'll retire as Minnetonka city manager June 1.

If you don't know who John Gunyou is, he's the smiling guy who's been talking fiscal sense to Minnesotans for decades.

Sadly, evidence that we've heard and adopted his advice is not immediately apparent.

One sign of Gunyou's credibility is that politicians on both sides of the aisle find him reliable.

Gunyou was state finance commissioner under Republican Governor Arne Carlson.

He was DFLer Margaret Anderson Kelliher's running mate in her bid for the DFL gubernatorial nomination in 2009.

He was finance director for the city of Minneapolis and for Minnesota Public Radio.

We know he can add and subtract, and understands the consequences for not having that skill, because he was once a middle school math and history teacher.

Gunyou's time as a state numbers mogul gave him an excellent high altitude view of where government reform is needed.

More than eleven years as the Minnetonka city manager sharpened his views and his opinions.

Here's his response from a recent public policy seminar when Gunyou was asked, "What would you most like to have from the state?"

Gunyou: "To get out of the way. Seriously."

Gunyou's retirement as Minnetonka's city manager probably has others already speculating about how they can convince the guy to come to work for them.

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State pension funds still healthy

Posted at 4:45 PM on December 22, 2011 by Brandt Williams (0 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Minneapolis

Here's another sign that the economy is improving. The state auditor released a report today that found the state's large municipal pension funds had another positive year in 2010.

During 2010, rates of return for the large plans ranged from 12.0 percent (Minneapolis Fire) to 16.0 percent (Duluth Teachers'). All of the plans except for Minneapolis Fire were able to meet their respective benchmarks.

According to the report, the Minneapolis Fire fund narrowly missed its benchmark return of 12.3 percent. Researchers say the state's funds suffered losses in 2008 and the first part of 2009 but are now on an upswing.

This may be the last report that includes the Minneapolis funds - they're merging with statewide funds next year.

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