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NEWS
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010 More LGA cuts coming By Chuck Sterling Editor Annandale Mayor Brennan "Buck" McAlpin says he expects the city to lose more state aid this year and next, but he hopes it's less than the cuts proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty last week. McAlpin also repeated his call for eliminating the state's distribution of local government aid, which he termed "a broken system," and letting cities levy what they need from local taxpayers. Using his power of unallotment to reduce payments to cities to help erase state budget deficits, Pawlenty has already shaved Annandale LGA by $51,000 in 2008, $46,000 in 2009 and $107,000 this year. Last week he proposed slicing another $124,443 from the $367,000 in LGA Annandale was supposed to receive in 2010, leaving about $136,000. The move was part of a $125 million reduction in payments to cities as the state tries to make up a $1.2 billion budget shortfall this year. Pawlenty also proposed giving the city only about $211,533 in 2011 as the state faces a deficit of $5 billion or $6 billion in the next two years. "I think with the size of the budget hole ... there'll be some LGA lost," McAlpin said, as the governor and Legislature negotiate over the proposals. "I hope they whittle the amount down from $125,000," he said. "Obviously they're just shifting the burden onto the locals, us." The city has already cut 21/2 jobs, frozen salaries, reduced services, contributions and memberships and renegotiated contracts to deal with the earlier cuts. Debt service funds Instead of making more cuts this year "we could shift what we pay in debt service and use some of that money for operation," McAlpin said. It's hard to predict beyond that without knowing the exact amount of the LGA cut, he said, but he hopes not to have to make other reductions. And he wouldn't know where to cut any more. The mayor said it's difficult to plan a city budget "not knowing if you're going to get $200,000 or absolutely nothing." He wants the state to do away with LGA, remove a 3.9 percent cap on tax levy increases and allow the cities to tax their citizens what it costs for services. "It's just a broken system. It just doesn't work," McAlpin said. He'd rather deal with local taxpayers. "I answer to the citizens of Annandale" about the amount of taxes needed to operate the city. They can express their opinion at election time, he said, adding, "I have every intention to run again" in November for another two-year term. South Haven has been exempt from earlier LGA cuts, but not this time. According to Pawlenty's proposal, it would lose $10,704 from the $33,000 it was supposed to get this year. And the city would receive only $19,077 next year. Cash reserves The reduction this year would be covered by reserves, money set aside for emergencies, from the South Haven municipal liquor store or the general fund, city administrator Carol Banken said. That could have an impact on some projects the council has been considering such as street repairs and demolishing a derelict building on Main Street, and it would mean a wage freeze for city employees would continue. "We're frustrated that he changes the LGA after we're already done with our budgets," Banken said. "And if it passes, it does have a real big impact on small cities." | ||||
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