State Rep. Dean Urdahl has assured Annandale officials that the city, which could lose more than $62,000 in state aid because of a Legislature snafu, will get its full share. “You are going to get the money, one way or another,” Urdahl (R-Grove City) told an Annandale City Council meeting Wednesday, June 30. It will be restored either through a special session of the Legislature this month or action in January, he said. The council passed a resolution calling for immediate action to correct the oversight in a special session. Urdahl explained that one section of the state’s local government aid formula was supposed to have been deleted from the tax bill by the 2003 Legislature but wasn’t. Legislators passed it that way and the error was discovered last summer. Gov. Tim Pawlenty decided to allow the measure to operate as the Legislature intended with the understanding it would be corrected in the 2004 session. But the 2004 Omnibus Tax Bill, which contained the fix, wasn’t passed, mainly because of politics, Urdahl said. The snafu reduces Annandale’s LGA for 2005 by $62,155 from the $327,800 the Legislature intended it to receive. Greater Minnesota cities could lose a combined total of millions of dollars in state aid, Urdahl has said. The legislator told the council he has asked for a special session. If it happens, it will occur by the third week in July, he said. If it doesn’t, the Legislature can fix the problem in January at the start of the next session. But in the meantime the city would have to figure out what to do about the shortfall, which Urdahl has called a “paper problem.” If the mistake isn’t corrected in a special session this summer, the state will have to certify to the cities in late July for their budget discussions that they’ll get the lower amount of state aid, even though that would be amended in January. To cover the temporary loss, the cities could use deficit spending, make cuts to their budgets or go into reserves, then make adjustments after the Legislature acts in January, Urdahl has said. Mayor Marian “Sam” Harmoning said Annandale has some fiscal advantages over some other cities and it’s not a life and death issue. Annandale officials know the funds are coming and it’s a question of how to finance that amount until then, she said. Urdahl said the issue is a political one. He believes at least in part that it’s happened because Pawlenty is trying to encourage the DFL-controlled state Senate to agree to a special session. The District 18B legislator said he supports staggering Senate terms so that half the senators come up for re-election every two years. None face election in November. He and others believe if half the Senate were up for election this term there would have been a different attitude toward getting things done, he said. If that doesn’t work, Urdahl said he favors considering other options for improvements including a look at a unicameral, or one-house, Legislature. “Something needs to be done. It sure didn’t work this time.”
