[Mpls] City budget passes
Budget Passes 12-1 Prioritizes public safety while paying off debt The Minneapolis City Council passed the 2005 City budget 12-1 today largely unchanged from Mayor R.T. Rybak's August budget presentation. I've spent much of the year finding ways to prevent layoffs in the Police Department without affecting the financial health of the City or cutting funding even deeper in other departments. I'm pleased that this budget accomplishes both objectives, Mayor Rybak said. The most significant change to the Mayor's original budget is Council Member Barb Johnson's amendment to increase funding for the Police Department by $500,000 annually, which will fund the equivalent of six police officers. Council Member Johnson and Mayor Rybak have been working together since the August budget presentation to find these dollars by planning to pay off City debt and reduce subsequent interest payments. Our number-one job is to think creatively about how to increase police resources for our citizens, Council Member Barb Johnson said. Third-quarter budget projections indicate that frugal City departments will spend approximately $5 million less in '04 than their annual budgets allow. The City will pay off $5 million worth of debt, freeing up $500,000 annually for the Police Department. This should provide the level of funding necessary to eliminate only three positions in Police Department. The Johnson amendment passed on a 11-1 vote. Federal and state government has cut funding for 120 cops since 2001. The Mayor and Council were able to increase Police funding by employing a combination of budget savings, including actuarial savings in pensions, jail fee reductions, budget and military leave, sales tax funding for convention-related policing, CDBG allocations for problem properties, and a focused early retirement incentive. The adopted budget will increase the Police Department's budget by $2.8 million in '05. Over a 10-year period the Police Department's budget will increase approximately 15 percent, while all other departments except Police and Fire are increasing at eight percent over the same 10-year period. None of these increases come close to keeping up with inflation or the increasing cost of maintaining current service levels, such as skyrocketing health care costs. My budget reflects a vision for the City. I am proud to have passed five budgets, each by a comfortable margin, in less than three years. Providing good services while restoring the City's financial health requires consistent leadership. This is why I am already working with departments on business plans that will be the backbone for the 2006 budget, Mayor Rybak said. The budget passed today maintains the policies established in the five-year financial direction, a plan to pay off inherited debt, and deal with large funding cuts from the state. The only major deviation from the five-year financial direction is increased funding for the Police Department. Elements of the five-year plan include paying off debt, capping levy increases, capping wage increases at two percent and holding the line on fee increases. This budget stays within the City's adopted tax policy that caps the City's share of property taxes increases at eight percent. This translates to about a two percent increase in the City's share of property tax for the average homeowner. Three-quarters of this increase goes just to pay off past debt, while 25 percent pays for the increased cost of maintaining services. This budget reflects the priorities of this Council and Mayor - keeping police funding as our top priority, Council President Paul Ostrow said. The 2005 City budget totals $1.24 billion. Twenty-eight percent of that total ($330 million) is discretionary revenue, supported by the property tax and state-funded Local Government Aid. This is the fifth budget the Mayor and Council have adopted in three years. A complete copy of the City budget will be available next month on the City's website at www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ . R.T. Rybak REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget Vote
Anybody know who voted against the budget? Just curious. . . . Russell Raczkowski Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City budget
I want to put this morning's news regarding the police five year plan into context. I do not want to cut positions in the police department. I want to add positions, especially by hiring new recurits who relect the makeup of the city. But when I, or anyone else, says simply they want spend more in one area, make sure you ask us where we will cutbecause a city that has built up debt for far too long needs to keep coming to terms with some very uncomfortable financial reality. That's what I will be doing between now and early August when I present my budget. I'm wide open to ideas...we need all the brainpower we can get right now. We have dramatically fewer resources because of a number of factors, including long term debt, massive state aid cuts, rapidly rising health care, pension funds that are gobbling up huge chunks of the budget and a recession that has decreased the value of commercial property. While all this has happened, the state passed a property tax redistribution that shifted the burden from commercial property onto residential. This, plus the commercial value drop above, has meant big increases in property tax on homes, making it much harder to raise property taxes on already overburdened homeowners. The phase out of limited market value makes it even more difficult to raise property taxes. The bad news is that because of these factors above we don't have as much discretionary money. The good news is that all the work we have done on long term planning is giving us a clearer picture of the challenge, and starting to give us some tools to use to get out of the hole. Unlike three years ago, we now have a five year financial framework passed by the mayor and council designed to work us out of the hole dug by years of debt and, based on those numbers we now have every department in the city required to develop a five year budget and five year business plan. The police budget you read about in the paper this morning, or the Health Department presention yesterday some of you may have seen on cable, are parts of that process. The department heads were to build their long term strategies around the numbers in the five year financial direction. The results aren't pretty, as you can see in the police plan and the health department plan.but they are the first step we need to understand the implications. You will continue to see these very stark picutres as each business plan comes forward but it is much better for the public to learn about the implications in a very public way, see what it means over a long period of time...instead of having it sprung on people in each budget. I was also very pleased the most significant part of the police budget had to do with deployment issues: how do we use officers more effectively because, no matter how much money we have, we are safer if the officer is spending more time on the street. As that business plan is presented...it comes before Executive Committee and Public Safety tomorrow--- it will be very helpful to have input from citizens about these ideas, and other input about things not in the plan that could be added. I also want to make it clear we aren't just accepting the situations. I'm working almost exclusvively on budgets issues, as are the people in our budget office, and many other parts of the city...and that work will come out in August when I present my budget. Here are a couple things we are doing to address the long term structural issues that are hurting our financial situation. First, on health care, when we saw forecasts of these costs going up 20% percent for years to come, we worked with our unions to restructure the system to lead to significant savings. Second on pensions, we are about to appoint a high level advisory group with deep background in this area to develop some key recommendations for restructuring. This is going to require cooperation with our pensioneers, and the legislature. You will be hearing more about this in coming times. Third, on the long term debt that I referenced above, one of the key drivers is the Internal Service Fund, which the five year financial direction attempts to pay off. These, and a number of other initiatives were received very well by the bond ratings agencies we met with a couple months back...and I'm pleased to say that they continued to keep the city's ratings, a significant achievement in these times. With that context, I'm very interested in hearing thoughts about how we should address all this. No idea to too out there...we need all the creative thinking we can get. R.T. Rybak REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
Re: [Mpls] City budget
Mayor Rybak: Thank you for asking our opinions about the budget! Please-please-please do NOT cut Police. Please-please-please DO cut CPED!!! They clearly have cash to spare, which is dangerous and ridiculous in this time of dwindling funds for the city. Furthermore, anyone who has ever done business with CPED (or MCDA, as they used to be known) will likely attest that it is an inefficient, if not blatantly wasteful bureaucracy. I challenge you and the members of Mpls City Council to explain to us why CPED needs so much more money than the Police, particularly when we are talking about cutting Police in a period of what seems to be increasing crime and violence in this city. Thank you, Connie Nompelis West Phillips --- Rybak, R.T. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I want to put this morning's news regarding the police five year plan into context. I do not want to cut positions in the police department. I want to add positions, especially by hiring new recurits who relect the makeup of the city. But when I, or anyone else, says simply they want spend more in one area, make sure you ask us where we will cutbecause a city that has built up debt for far too long needs to keep coming to terms with some very uncomfortable financial reality. That's what I will be doing between now and early August when I present my budget. I'm wide open to ideas...we need all the brainpower we can get right now. We have dramatically fewer resources because of a number of factors, including long term debt, massive state aid cuts, rapidly rising health care, pension funds that are gobbling up huge chunks of the budget and a recession that has decreased the value of commercial property. While all this has happened, the state passed a property tax redistribution that shifted the burden from commercial property onto residential. This, plus the commercial value drop above, has meant big increases in property tax on homes, making it much harder to raise property taxes on already overburdened homeowners. The phase out of limited market value makes it even more difficult to raise property taxes. The bad news is that because of these factors above we don't have as much discretionary money. The good news is that all the work we have done on long term planning is giving us a clearer picture of the challenge, and starting to give us some tools to use to get out of the hole. Unlike three years ago, we now have a five year financial framework passed by the mayor and council designed to work us out of the hole dug by years of debt and, based on those numbers we now have every department in the city required to develop a five year budget and five year business plan. The police budget you read about in the paper this morning, or the Health Department presention yesterday some of you may have seen on cable, are parts of that process. The department heads were to build their long term strategies around the numbers in the five year financial direction. The results aren't pretty, as you can see in the police plan and the health department plan.but they are the first step we need to understand the implications. You will continue to see these very stark picutres as each business plan comes forward but it is much better for the public to learn about the implications in a very public way, see what it means over a long period of time...instead of having it sprung on people in each budget. I was also very pleased the most significant part of the police budget had to do with deployment issues: how do we use officers more effectively because, no matter how much money we have, we are safer if the officer is spending more time on the street. As that business plan is presented...it comes before Executive Committee and Public Safety tomorrow--- it will be very helpful to have input from citizens about these ideas, and other input about things not in the plan that could be added. I also want to make it clear we aren't just accepting the situations. I'm working almost exclusvively on budgets issues, as are the people in our budget office, and many other parts of the city...and that work will come out in August when I present my budget. Here are a couple things we are doing to address the long term structural issues that are hurting our financial situation. First, on health care, when we saw forecasts of these costs going up 20% percent for years to come, we worked with our unions to restructure the system to lead to significant savings. Second on pensions, we are about to appoint a high level advisory group with deep background in this area to develop some key recommendations for restructuring. This is going to require cooperation with our pensioneers, and the legislature. You will be hearing more about this in coming times.
RE: [Mpls] City budget
Mr. Mayor, Thank you for the explanation of what is cooking in City Hall. I look forward to following this process closely. I encourage you to continue looking at options to cut and restructure. I would also encourage you to explore revenue opportunities. For example, I would love to see a parking tax administered in Minneapolis. Work it out with the Chamber of Commerce, but let's look at parking as a revenue source. Increasing meter rates and taxing parking ramps could potentially generate small amounts of revenue from people using our streets, police protection and fine atmosphere. I pay $3.75 per day when I park for work, and it wouldn't kill me to pay more if it meant I was receiving additional value for my dollar. Jeremy Wieland Northeast -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rybak, R.T. Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 10:34 AM To: Mpls Forum Subject: [Mpls] City budget I want to put this morning's news regarding the police five year plan into context. I do not want to cut positions in the police department. I want to add positions, especially by hiring new recurits who relect the makeup of the city. But when I, or anyone else, says simply they want spend more in one area, make sure you ask us where we will cutbecause a city that has built up debt for far too long needs to keep coming to terms with some very uncomfortable financial reality. That's what I will be doing between now and early August when I present my budget. I'm wide open to ideas...we need all the brainpower we can get right now. We have dramatically fewer resources because of a number of factors, including long term debt, massive state aid cuts, rapidly rising health care, pension funds that are gobbling up huge chunks of the budget and a recession that has decreased the value of commercial property. While all this has happened, the state passed a property tax redistribution that shifted the burden from commercial property onto residential. This, plus the commercial value drop above, has meant big increases in property tax on homes, making it much harder to raise property taxes on already overburdened homeowners. The phase out of limited market value makes it even more difficult to raise property taxes. The bad news is that because of these factors above we don't have as much discretionary money. The good news is that all the work we have done on long term planning is giving us a clearer picture of the challenge, and starting to give us some tools to use to get out of the hole. Unlike three years ago, we now have a five year financial framework passed by the mayor and council designed to work us out of the hole dug by years of debt and, based on those numbers we now have every department in the city required to develop a five year budget and five year business plan. The police budget you read about in the paper this morning, or the Health Department presention yesterday some of you may have seen on cable, are parts of that process. The department heads were to build their long term strategies around the numbers in the five year financial direction. The results aren't pretty, as you can see in the police plan and the health department plan.but they are the first step we need to understand the implications. You will continue to see these very stark picutres as each business plan comes forward but it is much better for the public to learn about the implications in a very public way, see what it means over a long period of time...instead of having it sprung on people in each budget. I was also very pleased the most significant part of the police budget had to do with deployment issues: how do we use officers more effectively because, no matter how much money we have, we are safer if the officer is spending more time on the street. As that business plan is presented...it comes before Executive Committee and Public Safety tomorrow--- it will be very helpful to have input from citizens about these ideas, and other input about things not in the plan that could be added. I also want to make it clear we aren't just accepting the situations. I'm working almost exclusvively on budgets issues, as are the people in our budget office, and many other parts of the city...and that work will come out in August when I present my budget. Here are a couple things we are doing to address the long term structural issues that are hurting our financial situation. First, on health care, when we saw forecasts of these costs going up 20% percent for years to come, we worked with our unions to restructure the system to lead to significant savings. Second on pensions, we are about to appoint a high level advisory group with deep background in this area to develop some key recommendations for restructuring. This is going to require cooperation with our pensioneers
RE: [Mpls] City budget
Constance Nompelis wrote: Please-please-please do NOT cut Police. Is it too late to shift funding from the NRP to the Police Dept.? Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City budget
From: Rybak, R.T. [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mpls Forum [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] City budget Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 11:34:18 -0500 I want to put this morning's news regarding the police five year plan into context. I do not want to cut positions in the police department. I want to add positions, especially by hiring new recurits who relect the makeup of the city. But when I, or anyone else, says simply they want spend more in one area, make sure you ask us where we will cutbecause a city that has built up debt for far too long needs to keep coming to terms with some very uncomfortable financial reality. That's what I will be doing between now and early August when I present my budget. I'm wide open to ideas...we need all the brainpower we can get right now. We have dramatically fewer resources because of a number of factors, including long term debt, massive state aid cuts, rapidly rising health care, pension funds that are gobbling up huge chunks of the budget and a recession that has decreased the value of commercial property. While all this has happened, the state passed a property tax redistribution that shifted the burden from commercial property onto residential. This, plus the commercial value drop above, has meant big increases in property tax on homes, making it much harder to raise property taxes on already overburdened homeowners. The phase out of limited market value makes it even more difficult to raise property taxes. The bad news is that because of these factors above we don't have as much discretionary money. The good news is that all the work we have done on long term planning is giving us a clearer picture of the challenge, and starting to give us some tools to use to get out of the hole. Unlike three years ago, we now have a five year financial framework passed by the mayor and council designed to work us out of the hole dug by years of debt and, based on those numbers we now have every department in the city required to develop a five year budget and five year business plan. The police budget you read about in the paper this morning, or the Health Department presention yesterday some of you may have seen on cable, are parts of that process. The department heads were to build their long term strategies around the numbers in the five year financial direction. The results aren't pretty, as you can see in the police plan and the health department plan.but they are the first step we need to understand the implications. You will continue to see these very stark picutres as each business plan comes forward but it is much better for the public to learn about the implications in a very public way, see what it means over a long period of time...instead of having it sprung on people in each budget. I was also very pleased the most significant part of the police budget had to do with deployment issues: how do we use officers more effectively because, no matter how much money we have, we are safer if the officer is spending more time on the street. As that business plan is presented...it comes before Executive Committee and Public Safety tomorrow--- it will be very helpful to have input from citizens about these ideas, and other input about things not in the plan that could be added. I also want to make it clear we aren't just accepting the situations. I'm working almost exclusvively on budgets issues, as are the people in our budget office, and many other parts of the city...and that work will come out in August when I present my budget. Here are a couple things we are doing to address the long term structural issues that are hurting our financial situation. First, on health care, when we saw forecasts of these costs going up 20% percent for years to come, we worked with our unions to restructure the system to lead to significant savings. Second on pensions, we are about to appoint a high level advisory group with deep background in this area to develop some key recommendations for restructuring. This is going to require cooperation with our pensioneers, and the legislature. You will be hearing more about this in coming times. Third, on the long term debt that I referenced above, one of the key drivers is the Internal Service Fund, which the five year financial direction attempts to pay off. These, and a number of other initiatives were received very well by the bond ratings agencies we met with a couple months back...and I'm pleased to say that they continued to keep the city's ratings, a significant achievement in these times. With that context, I'm very interested in hearing thoughts about how we should address all this. No idea to too out there...we need all the creative thinking we can get. R.T. Rybak REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore
RE: [Mpls] City budget
Forgot to sign my name: Dennis Plante Jordan _ MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page FREE download! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City budget
Warning: ideas mixed with satire follow. Concerns about downsizing our police department might very well vanish if we can succeed in downsizing crime an equal amount. We could take a page out of the GW Bush Administration play book and redefine a few crimes out of existence, or perhaps we should just identify ways of marginalizing them to a particular area of the city, like Powderhorn, Phillips, Central, various North neighborhoods. oh wait, that's been done. Okay, how about designation of a non-enforcement zone for some crimes; we have drug-free zones, how about some free drug zones; take from the dealers outside the zone and dump the stuff for anybody's use inside -- the Rob the hood strategy. Gee, perhaps a vice asylum district to go with the adult entertainment district; all we need is a place where there won't be any NIMBYs or NIMBYs that could be bought off cheaply, and shazamthe roaches go in, but they don't come out and cause trouble or else, see? It's like a Code-For thing where you don't really do anything about the crime unless it spills over into the wrong parts of townno wait, we do that or we've done it I think, maybe starting with Prohibition. But seriously, 'our cash ain't nothin' but trash' to purloin an old song lyric. You do the best with what you have on the things that are important. Money means nothing when you can just focus on getting a job done. For instance, I think that since we're talking about reducing the size of the force by attrition in Chief McManus's five year plan, we should concentrate on becoming lean and mean. To illustrate this, take a cop's cop like John Delmonico -- Don't you think this man could stand to lose some weight? I don't mean to pick on Delmonico, but I don't know the names of the others I've seen; this should help on the health premiums. Of course as earlier posts attest, our police do a fine job with what they've got. So let's go somewheres else with this. A few years back, Hennepin County released a big thick report, written by a host of mostly upper middle class folks of N. European extraction for the most part with input from other folks, called the African American Men Project. Skim of the rich mumbo-jumbo and get to the meat of this report that low-lifes like me can understand: we gotta do some stuff a little differently than we've been doing it. But aside from a few pilot projects here and there that now probably are running out of dough, not many strategies suggested by this work have been implemented and it gathers dust on shelves of various city and county folks. The authors say it is relavant to other ethnic groups, and I believe it is true. (There is much talk about races of human beings that I believe to be an human artifice with no basis in biology; but we won't get into that in this treatment.). As a former treasurer (not a great one) of a non-profit organization (not a bad one), I approach these sorts of problems based on mission. If it ain't our mission, we shouldn't spend our money on it. This could go for unfunded federal mandates or those that require a greater local investment than is justified by our mission (for a city, read comprehesive plan or charter or whatever), i.e., if somebody outside your organization wants you to spend money on stuff that has nothing to do with your mission, you tell them to get lost. But when your state leader just say yes to the feds, even though you say no on the local level -- well, that is just an ugly situation isn't it. It is the kind of situation you try to rectify in November for the most part. Bill Kahn Prospect Perq; errr Park, yes Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City budget: tough choices for tough times - 23% cut to Police! and NRP funding
David Brauer wrote: The details are grim...greatly reduced community-development funds, a 23 percent cut to the cops, This is really a bit misleading and just one way in which numbers can be turned to almost any advantage. The budget for police over the next 5 years (2003-2008) will INCREASE by about $18 million dollars. They will actually receive a 3.6% average annual increase in their budget. They WILL be 23% of the solution - meaning the city has to find $55 million in cuts over the next 5 years and the police will be 23% of that amount. Jim Graham wrote: I (Jim Graham) answered RT that this debate had already been engaged in and was over. The debate took place before the last election. ... snip... The Mayor and several candidates for City Council won on the basis of these commitments to keep NRP intact and promises to find the funding for it. We gave money, support, and votes on the basis of those commitments. It is NOT up for debate about funding NRP; it is up to those making the commitment to find the funds. That the taxpayers of Minneapolis should have a referendum on where and what they would be willing to see tax increases for. The Mayor said he would oppose such a referendum. (The Mayor and City Council Members do not trust the people to spend the people's tax dollars in the places the politicians think are important I guess.) A referendum on whether or not to raise taxes in Minneapolis for NRP would be a BIG mistake. First of all it would lose. Taxes are already going up anywhere from 8% to 13% (er, what's inflation again?). Numbers presented on Saturday showed that to raise $20 million for NRP would increase taxes something over 25%! This would also absolutely kill NRP as it would turn out to be a referendum not on a tax increase but on NRP itself. We have to remember that though some of us could easily bear a large tax increase many people simply cannot. There are people on fixed incomes that have lived in their homes or neighborhoods for 50+ years, but these kinds of tax increases would simply force them out. Affordable housing is already a huge issue. This would simply make a bad situation even worse. Paul Lohman Lynnhurst Paul Lohman [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City budget: tough choices for tough times - 23% cut to Police! and NRP funding
I want to acknowledge Paul Lohman's correction: David Brauer wrote: The details are grim...greatly reduced community-development funds, a 23 percent cut to the cops, This is really a bit misleading and just one way in which numbers can be turned to almost any advantage. The budget for police over the next 5 years (2003-2008) will INCREASE by about $18 million dollars. They will actually receive a 3.6% average annual increase in their budget. They WILL be 23% of the solution - meaning the city has to find $55 million in cuts over the next 5 years and the police will be 23% of that amount. Sorry, I didn't intend to be misleading. A subsequent post I wrote stated, The police make up 32 percent of the 2003 property-tax-supported budget alone; they are getting 23 percent of the cuts. ... According to the city's 5-year projections, they need to cut $55 million in anticipated spending growth. The police come in for $12 million in cuts, fire for $2 million and public works for $8.4 million. Good catch, Paul - I think my second post was more careful. As Jim Graham recently said, sorry for the initial haste. By the way, Dan Niziolek made a big deal of the fact that several city departments (including the mayor's office and the council) were getting 6.5 percent average annual increases when the cops were getting 3.6 percent. Expect this to be a major point of discussion. The rejoinder (from whom, I forget) was that you only save a little out of other departments but you save a lot off the cops. Niziolek's response was that everyone should be limited to what the cops get. By the way, the fire guys are getting more - 5.5 percent annual increases. David Brauer King Field ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City budget: tough choices for tough times
City leaders prep themselves, and others, for $55 million in cuts in expected spending over the next five years...and that's before the state cuts any local govt aid. The details are grim...greatly reduced community-development funds, a 23 percent cut to the cops, delayed fixing of the infrastructure gap...wither NRP? Affordable housing? Rochelle Olson's story: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3585360.html Strib editorial: http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/3584088.html David Brauer List manager ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
Brandon Lacy says: But, I believe Dyna is way off base when it comes to identifying the economic problems in this city with crime. For the last ten years most crime statistics in Minneapolis have dropped and dropped steadily. Why? Because the general economy had been in an upswing, people found less reason to turn to a life of crime in order to feed their families. Mark here: Are you implying that most crime is from people trying to feed their families? Pretty funny. I hadn't heard about those desperados out there stealing loaves of bread. I think the main reason for the crime drop in the '90's was demographic. There were a lot fewer people in their teens and twenties, who commit something like 80-90% of the crime (this is just a guess, I don't know the true percentage, but I know it's a high proportion). The baby bust is now over, so the demographics are again turning against us. So your chance of being busted over the head is back up again. Mark Anderson Bancroft ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
Michael et al, I agree that there has to be a willingness to learn. But, I've also watched that willingness to learn be stamped out by tracking, racial profiling, and concentrated poverty. I've seen this first hand. If all you know and see in your life is failure, drugs, crime, and poverty then all you will know is the same. It takes a heroic someone to break out of that cycle, and we are a tad short on heroes. There has to be a concentrated effort by those inside the cycle and those outside the cycle to break it. Does anyone here know exactly how hard it is to get welfare in this town? Let me give you an example. There was I time when I left my job due to an unhealthy work environment and a boss who was meglomaniacal and had a problem with both the truth and confidentiality. I had about a months worth of savings in my bank account. I was sure that I would be able to find a job before my savings ran out, or I would be able to register for unemployment as a stop-gap measure until I could finish the resume/interview/hiring process. I had a couple of pretty decent prospects. Well, it turned out that my two decent prospects hired other candidates. But, I still had my savings to go on. So, I registered for unemployment. I received all the paper work, and then I received a letter with the information to call in and order my first unemployment check. The designated day to call in came, and I called. The lovely voice on the machine told me that the order had been processed, and my check would be mailed the next day. So, I went ahead and paid out a couple of remaining bills, and I expected to pay for rent and some other bills with my first unemployment check. But, instead of getting the check, I received a letter saying my case was still pending! The first I'd heard of it. After talking to the Department of Economic Security (which administers unemployment) I fould that my employer was contesting, and it would take another 2-4 weeks before I could possibly access money. So, there I was a college educated professional, out of money, with rent to pay. So, I swallowed my pride, and I went down to the Office of Financial Assistance, and I attempted to register for emergency assistance. Once there, I was told that I did not qualify for emergency assistance for rent because the state requires that you prove that your rent is affordable. The equation for determining affordable rent is 50% of your gross monthly income. Since I had no income at the time, affordable rent for me was 0. In addition, if I were to find a job, I would then have to provide a letter of eviction from my landlord to get any help. Thusly, I was turned away without any support. Luckily, I have friends I could turn to in a time of crisis, but I thought to access services I had been paying taxes to support before I turned to friends and burden them. I also thought about the fifty other people in that office who most likely did not have college educated professional friends and family to whom they could turn for support in a crisis. The myth that the welfare system is just handing out checks is just that a myth. While I was there, I listened to a man who was asking for cash assistance. Only to find that the only way one can qualify for cash assistance (without children) is to be completely disabled for the past 30 days (with doctor proof), and the maximum benefit one can qualify for is 203 dollars. After that experience, I vowed realized that the often times ignorant individuals who are harping about the welfare system haven't clue number one as to the reality of the system. If welfare is reformed further, we won't have it! We need to find ways to break cycles of poverty and crime. And, as I said before, we need to stop giving the City Council and our elected leaders break after break while continuing to scape goat poor folks trying to survive. You can lead a horse to water, but I guarentee if the thing doesn't drink it's because it isn't thirsty. Have you ever seen a horse that is starving for water? At the smell of it, they go semi-beserk trying to get to it. And that is what is happening in the poor/depressed/oppressed neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The people are starting to break down anyone and everyone's door to get to the water inside. -Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park _ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget Woes - Retirement Worries are Real for Everyone
Brandon Lacy asks: Does anyone here know exactly how hard it is to get welfare in this town? Vicky Heller asks: Does anyone here know exactly how hard it is to earn an honest dollar in this town? Dyna Sluyer states: We do need to maintain enough of a tax base to fund pension benefits already committed. Vicky Heller comments: Most of the private sector people who are expected to PAY these pension benefits, don't have any benefits for themselves. The Ponzi Scheme - An Important Concept to Understand All of the noble efforts to give people what they want fail ultimately because there is an unlimited demand for free money. When the people who are expected to pay, refuse to pay, or are unable to pay, the whole fantasy crumbles under its own weight. This is happening in the stock market. This will happen with Social Security (see note below.) This will happen with Medicare/Medicaid. This will happen with pension plans. Vicky Heller North Oaks and Cedar-Riverside Note about Social Security Payments: Statistically speaking - The average black American man dies at the age of 67, and during the course of his life earns an average of $35,000 per year. He pays approximately $180,000 into the SS fund (which doesn't really exist) and receives NOTHING. One could argue that social security actually transfers wealth from black men to white women. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
Remember that a lot of the pension problems that are being raised are due to the downturn in the economy/stock market; NOT because they are OVERLY generous. It is very frustrating to constantly defend those working in the public sector and their compensation. With the increase in cost of health care, inflation, the cost of living, etc. wages have all but stagnated in real dollars. The PERA (Public Employees Retirement Association; City/County/State employees pension fund management) has filed suit against AOL/Time Warner charging that the devaluation of their stock (which PERA has a chunk of) is due in part to their corporate malfeasance. We need to see more pension managers doing this type of thing to penalize companies in which pension money is invested. Not across the board, but penalizing the companies that are found guilty of wrongdoing. Why doesn't the income gap get brought up more? Instead, the easy targets are the folks who work. Maybe unions HAVE inflated wages beyond skill sets required. If they hadn't, what would wages look like across the board now? The would be lower overall. Could you imagine MORE jobs at the minimum wage? Corporations have done a much more grievous evil by inflating CEO and upper management compensation beyond what any individual could ever need. The corporate media has done a great job, however, of directing the frustration of the upper middle class at the middle and lower classes rather than at the stratospheric class who are running away with the store. Bob Velez Shingle Creek Ward 4-1 -- Citizen Bob Velez Green Party endorsed candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner, District 1 AFSCME (Local 34) ENDORSED http://www.webspawner.com/users/citizenbobvelez/ This is a great union perspective on this problem. We should ignore the fact that the city has been unwise in granting pensions that are a major liability. We should ignore the fact that work force reductions are often a necessary and wise business practice. And, we should believe that growth (unions can always use new members) is always beneficial. We need to recognize that unions in some professions have inflated wages beyond the skill sets held by their workers. And, we need to recognize that, in the long run, this is not good thing for our country. Michael Atherton Prospect Park ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
Much has been written on this list lately about our city's financial woes, largely concentrating on cutting the budget to varying degrees. The problem is that large government and private sector entities, be they Amtrak, the Postal Service, International Harvester, or Minneapolis have substantial infrastructure investments to make and pension liabilities. In other words, you could lay off half the employees of these organizations tomorrow and the cost would barely drop. This leads one to a logical conclusion- big budget cuts won't work, the only solution is to grow our way out of this problem. So let me take this down to a macroeconomic level, namely my little corner in Hawthorne: My corner once contained 4 homes, built in 1887. One burned down shortly thereafter, so for most of the 20th century there were three homes on my corner. Until the 1960s the adjoining 3 corners were on the tax rolls. Interstate highway 94 took one whole side of the street off the tax rolls, and another of the remaining corners was taken off the tax rolls to build a public housing low rise. So as the 1960s closed we had lost all the property taxes from the adjacent corners. None the less through the 1960s and 70s this was still a decent working class neighborhood. The aging owners of the 3 remaining homes could not afford to upgrade their properties, but at least they were still paying taxes. Then the neighborhood literally went to hell in the 1980s and early 1990s. The elders on both sides of my home died, and their homes were rented out to a succession of criminals. In 1995 my dear grandma Gertrude died, and I inherited her home on the corner and moved in during 1996. By then the homes on either side had been torched, and mine was the sole remaining on the corner. The city spent about $20,000 tearing down the burned out hulks of the neighboring homes, assessed against their lots that were going tax forfeit anyways. When they went tax forfeit I bought these two unbuildable lots for $100 each. I then built a garage on one with $4,000 in NRP help, adding $9,000 in property value. At this point we have another crime epidemic of early '90s proportions starting, and I and my neighbors are unlikely to add to the property values when we wonder if our homes will still be standing unmolested when we come home at night. Time to do the numbers. Before the crime wave of the 1980s and early '90s their were 3 houses here. If the city had fulfilled it's responsibility and rid this neighborhood of crime we would have 3 homes here yet. They would have passed from the elders to young folks who would be investing in them. With a location 2 miles from downtown and shopping, parks, and the river within less than a mile these 3 homes would be worth about $200,000 each. This would give my corner over a half million dollars in assessed value, and had not the freeway and public housing taken the adjacent corners we'd be looking at a couple million dollars in assessable value here. Instead, after eating $20,000 in assessments on the tax forfeit lots and a further $4,000 grant for my garage this corner now has less than $50,000 assessed value. After circuit breaker and such tax limiting laws this corner pays only about $600 a year in property taxes, With a drug/party house next door and plenty more crime up the street I'd be crazy to make any further investment in this property. So thanks to our city's tolerant attitude to crime my corner pays less than 1/10th the property taxes it is capable of. My corner is typical of my Hawthorne neighborhood and the Northside. As property values continue to fall while the demand for city services in these troubled neighborhoods increase, our city is headed for the same fiscal death cycle that has all but consumed cities like East St.Louis and Gary. I think that's the bottom line here- make this city a safe place and it will flourish. Leave the citizens to duck bullets and hide behind locks and bars and it will die a slow and painful death, peace, Dyna Sluyter, hanging on on the Northside -- ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
I think Dyna's post has some merit with regards to the need of the city to invest in housing redevelopment, small business development, etc. And, anyone who has lived in Minneapolis for the last twenty years can see that Minneapolis has most defintaley come a long way in terms of inner city rebuilding, etc. But, I believe Dyna is way off base when it comes to identifying the economic problems in this city with crime. For the last ten years most crime statistics in Minneapolis have dropped and dropped steadily. Why? Because the general economy had been in an upswing, people found less reason to turn to a life of crime in order to feed their families. Now that the economy is in the proverbial outhouse thanks to George Bush, the crackpot spending schemes of Jesse Ventura (how many of you who supported his lame idea to send all Minnesotan's 200 dollar checks in tax rebate money are still happy?), September 11th, and whole list of causes, crime will most likely be on the rise again. Minneapolis doesn't have a reputation for being lax on crime. And I don't believe Minneapolis is lax on crime. But what we have done is dismantle almost every safety net that we have to sustain our communities. For those of you who believe that welfare is just handing out checks and folks are able to live and thrive on that system are seriously delusional. Povery leads to desperation. This in turn leads to crime, which in turn leads to a decrease in property value and assessed taxes, which then results in less revenue for our city and adds to our budget woes. Provide jobs and support for our communities and our communities will support the city. If we want to sustain our city, then we need to STOP giving out enormous subsidies to corporations (and for those of you who believe that subsidies to corporations create jobs...please show me one example in recent history in Minneapolis where the value of the subsidy has or will been returned to the city in the number of jobs created, and I'll point you to the current article in CityPages about Norm Coleman's failed experiment in St. Paul). We need to stop crowing for public financing of sport entertainment projects, and we need to redirect our spending to where it counts. We need to focus on small business development, improved tranpsortation infrastructure, decrease of urban sprawl, job creation, debt reduction, education, affordable housing, and mixed use development. How many jobs could have been created with the financing that went into Block E Development and Target's downtown store? How about the money to move the Shubert Theater? We can only scapegoat people living in poverty for so long before we start to wonder about the circumstances that create poverty and maintain people living in poverty for generations. Treat the syptoms, cure the disease. -Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park From: dyna [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 11:54:25 -0500 Much has been written on this list lately about our city's financial woes, largely concentrating on cutting the budget to varying degrees. The problem is that large government and private sector entities, be they Amtrak, the Postal Service, International Harvester, or Minneapolis have substantial infrastructure investments to make and pension liabilities. In other words, you could lay off half the employees of these organizations tomorrow and the cost would barely drop. This leads one to a logical conclusion- big budget cuts won't work, the only solution is to grow our way out of this problem. So let me take this down to a macroeconomic level, namely my little corner in Hawthorne: My corner once contained 4 homes, built in 1887. One burned down shortly thereafter, so for most of the 20th century there were three homes on my corner. Until the 1960s the adjoining 3 corners were on the tax rolls. Interstate highway 94 took one whole side of the street off the tax rolls, and another of the remaining corners was taken off the tax rolls to build a public housing low rise. So as the 1960s closed we had lost all the property taxes from the adjacent corners. None the less through the 1960s and 70s this was still a decent working class neighborhood. The aging owners of the 3 remaining homes could not afford to upgrade their properties, but at least they were still paying taxes. Then the neighborhood literally went to hell in the 1980s and early 1990s. The elders on both sides of my home died, and their homes were rented out to a succession of criminals. In 1995 my dear grandma Gertrude died, and I inherited her home on the corner and moved in during 1996. By then the homes on either side had been torched, and mine was the sole remaining on the corner. The city spent about $20,000 tearing down the burned out hulks of the neighboring homes
RE: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
Brandon Lacy Campos, talking of the ills in society, says in part, We can only scapegoat people living in poverty for so long before we start to wonder about the circumstances that create poverty and maintain people living in poverty for generations. Treat the syptoms, cure the disease. Actually, curing the disease requires treating the root causes- not the symptoms. A good education and hard work goes a long way toward reducing poverty-- and is much more effective than welfare checks and subsidized small business loans for poorly thought-out business endeavors. When parents allow their kids to drop out of school in the ninth or tenth grade, what do they expect in terms of that child's future? Who shares responsibility and to what degree when such decisions are made? How about twenty years down the road, when that student is a middle-aged undereducated, unskilled and under-paid or unemployed guy with a family? Who bears responsibility? You can lead a horse to free water, but you can't make it drink! Michael Hohmann Linden Hills -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Brandon Lacy Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 4:04 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North I think Dyna's post has some merit with regards to the need of the city to invest in housing redevelopment, small business development, etc. And, anyone who has lived in Minneapolis for the last twenty years can see that Minneapolis has most defintaley come a long way in terms of inner city rebuilding, etc. snip ...Now that the economy is in the proverbial outhouse thanks to George Bush, the crackpot spending schemes of Jesse Ventura (how many of you who supported his lame idea to send all Minnesotan's 200 dollar checks in tax rebate money are still happy?), September 11th, and whole list of causes, crime will most likely be on the rise again. Minneapolis doesn't have a reputation for being lax on crime. And I don't believe Minneapolis is lax on crime. But what we have done is dismantle almost every safety net that we have to sustain our communities. For those of you who believe that welfare is just handing out checks and folks are able to live and thrive on that system are seriously delusional. Povery leads to desperation. This in turn leads to crime, which in turn leads to a decrease in property value and assessed taxes, which then results in less revenue for our city and adds to our budget woes. Provide jobs and support for our communities and our communities will support the city. If we want to sustain our city, then we need to STOP giving out enormous subsidies to corporations... snip ...and we need to redirect our spending to where it counts. We need to focus on small business development, improved tranpsortation infrastructure, decrease of urban sprawl, job creation, debt reduction, education, affordable housing, and mixed use development. How many jobs could have been created with the financing that went into Block E Development and Target's downtown store? How about the money to move the Shubert Theater? We can only scapegoat people living in poverty for so long before we start to wonder about the circumstances that create poverty and maintain people living in poverty for generations. Treat the syptoms, cure the disease. -Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park snip ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget Woes - an idea from Nordoaks
We could follow in Brazil's footsteps and default on some of our debts. Here are some reasons that this makes sense: Heck, everyone's doing it! Interest rates are so low, even if we have to pay 1 point more on the remaining debt, we still come out way ahead. I would rather pay 6% on 1/2 billion than 5% on 1.5 billion. If we are insulted by the bondholders - so what! They're rich, they can take the hit. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us. It might be easier to get credit - because we'll actually be able to pay our bills. Credit card companies routinely offer newly bankrupted people fresh credit. It would be cruel to force Minneapolis residents to pay for the gross misdeeds of a few. We would be entertained for years watching the lawsuits proceed. Vicky Heller North Oaks and Cedar-Riverside ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street North
dyna wrote: Much has been written on this list lately about our city's financial woes, largely concentrating on cutting the budget to varying degrees. The problem is that large government and private sector entities, be they Amtrak, the Postal Service, International Harvester, or Minneapolis have substantial infrastructure investments to make and pension liabilities. In other words, you could lay off half the employees of these organizations tomorrow and the cost would barely drop. This leads one to a logical conclusion- big budget cuts won't work, the only solution is to grow our way out of this problem. This is a great union perspective on this problem. We should ignore the fact that the city has been unwise in granting pensions that are a major liability. We should ignore the fact that work force reductions are often a necessary and wise business practice. And, we should believe that growth (unions can always use new members) is always beneficial. We need to recognize that unions in some professions have inflated wages beyond the skill sets held by their workers. And, we need to recognize that, in the long run, this is not good thing for our country. Michael Atherton Prospect Park ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from CrackStreet North
Actually, it's more of a practical perspective on the problem. The folks that keep our city working put up with a lot- odd hours, danger, hard work, etc.. The pay is lousy, so one of the ways we attract qualified people to these jobs is with a decent pension. Normally paying these pensions is not a problem, but when the cities tax base is allowed to shrink a pension funding crisis could ensue. This is the problem one of the organizations I mentioned- International- is having. After downsizing the company in the 1980s they now have more retirees than employees! Pension liabilities are also the reason attempts to downsize Amtrak or the Postal service are doomed to failure. If you closed down Amtrak today you would still be stuck with 44 billion dollars in liabilities, and shutting down the Postal service would leave you with at least 100 billion dollars in liabilities. This is not because the retirement benefits are excessive, but more due to the sheer number of employees- in the case of the Postal Service nearly a million current employees alone. As far as growth that isn't necessarily needed. We do need to maintain enough of a tax base to fund pension benefits already committed. As far as cutting public employees retirement benefits, that tactic probably won't work. If we took away their pensions, many government employees would be forced to tap other government funds to survive- public housing and food stamps quickly come to mind. As far as inflating wages beyond skill sets, you should spend a day with me at work. Many of my union brothers and sisters are indeed quite overqualified for the job. It's nice to have a truck driver who understands computers handy when the transmission control computer on someone's truck dies leaving an 18 wheeler completely blocking the Post Office loading dock. I promptly rebooted the computer and got said 18 wheeler out of the way. We also have some non union drivers come in- yes, they work cheap and get no pension. They also screw up a lot and do things like delaying the mail while they try to figure out how to back up an 18 wheeler. in solidarity, Dyna Sluyer, unpaid guard, Northside Criminal Containment Zone (perhaps we need a union organizing drive?) This is a great union perspective on this problem. We should ignore the fact that the city has been unwise in granting pensions that are a major liability. We should ignore the fact that work force reductions are often a necessary and wise business practice. And, we should believe that growth (unions can always use new members) is always beneficial. We need to recognize that unions in some professions have inflated wages beyond the skill sets held by their workers. And, we need to recognize that, in the long run, this is not good thing for our country. Michael Atherton Prospect Park ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls -- ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget Woes- retake
Part 1.
More bad news on the Mpls. budget scene according to recent article by
Rochelle Olson in the STrib-- The city expects a deficit of $22 million by
2025 in the revenues they use to pay off the Target Center bonds. Then
there are 'needed' improvements (approx. $10-$20 million), that the city is
responsible for in the shorter term. Target Center was financed with
tax-free bonds, which preclude the city under federal law from allowing the
team or the operators to make improvements, she says. To allow those groups
to upgrade the arena, the city would need to refinance with taxable bonds.
Clear Channel, a national entertainment promoter, manages Target Center. In
the article, it is suggested that Clear Channel, as an insider, can offer a
better deal to artists booking the Center, and therefore other promoters
nationally just avoid Target Center (can't compete w/ Clear Channel) and try
to work with Xcel instead. If this is true, the lack of a competitive,
unbiased promotional/booking market at Target Center may be hurting overall
bookings and revenues at Target Center ( w/Clear Channel being major
promoter), resulting in reduced tax receipts for the city-- i.e. they get
all of a smaller pie rather than less of a bigger pie, and more profit in
their pocket, the city be damned. Perhaps parties to this deal can arrive
at some attractive cost-share arrangement whereby the city might get a
no-interest loan from the owners/management team in order to get the
necessary improvements made, while the owners/management pump up marketing
to increase bookings and sales, bringing city tax revenues back in line with
what is required. Added revenues above a certain level in any given year
would result in the loan principal being repaid; however, if sales and tax
revenues aren't adequately raised in a given year, no principal payment is
due (now that would be marketing incentive). The incentive would be to get
the loan repaid ASAP. Insider financial whizzes could tweak the deal with
sliding scales and the like. Perhaps the extra 3 percent city sales tax
could also be structured as some type of inducement in such a deal, so that
both parties ultimately win. An incentive for both parties to get bookings
and revenues up without added pressure on property taxes would be the goal.
Why should Target Center be interested? Without increased Target Center and
city tax revenues, why should the city invest any more public money?
Negotiate a win-win deal where both parties stand to gain and taxpayers
won't loose. If owners/managers aren't interested, forget the improvements
and, then, the city could fall back and shuffle other tax flows (as is
currently contemplated) to pay the bonds... at least we wouldn't be throwing
more good money into a bad situation.
Part 2.
A couple of weeks ago Scott Russell reported (Southwest Journal) on current
and potential city taxpayer liability associated with three city employee
pension funds ('How pensions blew a hole in the city's budget' by Scott
Russell, 9-9-02 SWJ). Facing a $29 million shortfall in 2003, city leaders
are proposing to borrow the funds, paying back a couple million dollars
annually for twenty years-- that's just to cover the 2003 shortfall! The
city expects to borrow $123 million over the next five years just to cover
the projected shortfall associated with just one of the funds. These
shortfalls developed as the financial markets tanked in recent years, yet
pensioners benefited from legislation allowing them to collect 'bonus'
payments (the '13th checks' for police and fire funds) while the markets
were up! And politicians added to the dilemma by reducing plan
contributions in those good years.
The laws allowing public pensioners to reap upside gains in good years while
taxpayers remain on the hook for shortfalls in bad years should immediately
be repealed. It is outrageous! The city should take immediate action to
convert all defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution plans
where plan members and fund managers assume responsibility for fund
management rather than taxpayers, with annual contributions made on a
pay-as-you-go basis where the employee and employer make required payments
annually- period. As throughout history, abuses should lead to restraint
and reform. The local taxpayer should not be the guarantor of last resort
while funds are raided by pensioners and politicians seeking short term
gains through either 'bonus' withdrawals or reduced public contributions in
good years. All funds should be managed by professional money managers, not
controlled by fund members as in the current situation. These pension
shortfalls represent immense liabilities for city taxpayers to assume. City
leaders should take corrective action immediately to mitigate the problems
and restructure the situation to prevent similar episodes from recurring in
the future.
Part 3 (refrain).
Existing city budget shortfalls involving internal service account deficits
[Mpls] City Budget Woes- retake
Excellent, Mike, excellent! Thank you. And thanks too to Vicky Heller. I wish our newspapers and political party (there seems only to be one, like on the School Board) would be looking at the record and making it available to us (and not in a two year old archive that is not freely accessible from the web). Though its not as though even with information we will get much bang for our tax bucks. Accountability apparently is thought to be mean-spirited. I appreciate people like Mike and Vicky who do lots of research and writing to keep us informed. And Keith R who fills us in on info about North Side land use abuses by previous Councils. BTW, I can see an independent thinker can't get union support in this town. I'm sure Mike's criticism of the Head's I win, Tails you lose approach to city pensions will win him no friends or endorsements in the L part of the DFL. Or the other parts of the DFL as well, because they seem more interested in each getting their own respective spoils than looking out for the public interest. (Where is that, anyway. I had it around here beore, but I can't seem to find it now.) BTW, Mike mentioned a story that was in the South West Journal, a paper that seems to no longer be available in Downtown. If that paper has in-depth city budget stories I wish that either the Skyway Journal would carry them or that the SWJ be distributed here. (Please, no one get defensive here. I may have missed the story in Skyway Jrl because I was out of town Sept 12-17.) Alan Shilepsky Downtown ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget
Vicky Heller's post got me to the city website then the budget. Go to the city sight click budget, it'll get you to lots of PDF docs. Boring accounting stuff. But it's what you need to know. There seems to be a gap between 2001 Revenues 493,866,000 and Expenditures 542,690,000 That's a gap of over 49 Million. Where is it being carried on the books? How did the city get borrowing authority that 50 states and no other municipal government enjoys? Can some one from city hall clear the soup here? Or are we running an annual deficit like Uncle Sam? The other item I noticed in Vicky's post. The amount of debt service. She correctly points out that it went up almost 40% in one year!! What's the forecast amount in the out years. Over a third of our rev is paying interest. What if 1/3 of your income was paying credit cards? I know my life is not the city, but GD! what's going on here? Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City budget
I know one shouldn't pick at tiny parts of the budget but throwing away money (in this case $500,000) is always offensive. RT is following the popular approach of mayors all over the country to appear to take action against potential terrorists by protecting the city water supply. Nationwide governors and mayors have proposed about $4 billion to protect our water reservoirs, when such contamination presents a minimal to negligible risk. This quote is from Donald A. Henderson, principal science advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for public health preparedness and chairman of the Secretary's Council on Public Health Preparedness. He also says: Contaminating food or water is possible but unlikely to result in a potentially destabilizing epidemic of a highly virulent disease. This sum would be much more useful for measures designed to protect public health and environment in general. Phyllis Kahn State Representative 59B ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] city budget info
This information is from the City's Finance Department: The City's Certified Annual Financial Report is available in hard copy by calling the Finance department at 612-673-2577. The report will be available on-line Monday July 15th (you should be able to access it by following the same link previously posted on the list). The report is an audited report. As such, it is usually available in June of the year for the previous years (and has been this year). The timeline is as follows: books for the previous year are closed in February; statements are prepared in March; auditors review the numbers in April and May and hard copies of the report are published and available in June. Reports on financial status in the City are presented quarterly and go through the Ways and Means Committee Process. Typically they are available on the web around the time they go to Committee. (Unfortunately they are not currently retained on the web after the meeting is held.) The primary difference between this information and the Certified Annual Report is that the report contains financial information about independent boards, whereas the information that goes through the City Council is just City financial information. Laura Sether Office of Mayor Rybak Message: 17 From: Victoria Heller [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mpls Forum [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 12:03:39 -0500 Subject: [Mpls] Finance Department - Where are the 2001 Financial Reports? Fellow listmembers - Here is the link to obtain the City's annual financial reports: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/city-coordinator/finance/services-b udget/cafr.html The most recent one available is for the year 2000. It is now July of 2002. Does anyone know when 2001 will be published? Vicky Heller North Oaks Minneapolis property owner ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] City Budget Cuts
David Brauer recently asked the list what would we cut from the City budget and Mayor Rybak is eliciting budget suggestions from City staff, with a (free?)lunch to the best suggestions. I was wondering is there a budget outline we could peruse so that we knew where the money was spent, and therefore make suggestion? I'm guessing we would need more detail than those pie charts that show where the money is going, but less detail than an office-by-office budget breakdown Dean E. Carlson East Harriet, Ward 10 ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City Budget Cuts
Basic services budgets have been whittled away for several years now. There may be a couple more things to do in those areas, but probably no significant savings. The first place to look for savings would be those areas that had huge increases in budget over the past several years including the City Coordinators Office and the Office Of Cultural Affairs. By far, the biggest savings will probably come from reinventing the delivery of services through the MCDA, Planning NRP programs. But in order for this to be successful, it needs to be done with employees completely involved in the defining of the vision, mission and goals of this new combined department. And employees need to be completely involved in the entire process without management or politicians sweeping out the floor from underneath the process. To mean that means providing leadership, education and dialogue - not edicts. The other area of savings would probably come from reducing the city's role in social services. This is something that traditionally the state and county have provided. With the state reducing aid to cities perhaps the cities should return responsibility of social services to the counties and the state. A management restructuring might get some savings and there should also be a comprehensive look at the cost differential between privatization of some city services and in house costs. Two cents from the peanut gallery... R u s s e l l W. P e t e r s o n Saint Michael, Minnesota [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can only fly if you stretch your wings. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] City Budget Cuts
Russell's preference for finding savings by restructuring service delivery systems is mine and probably alot of resdients' preference. I'd recommend a neutral third-party analysis of the work processes of those departments most likely to produce savings. I wouldn't be afraid to look at the police, too. An analysis of the work processes in the context of a department's mission would be best. Recommendations should be presented with the minimum, medium, and maximum mix of programs -- minimum being defined as what is statutorily mandated and maximum defined as what the department would like to do. This gives the City Council and Mayor the opportunity to select the priorities for the departments. City government staff may not feel comfortable with that, but it is the City Council's job. The problem is that this type of analysis will be expensive. Brian Hanninen Cedar-Riverside On Wed, 16 January 2002, Russell W Peterson wrote: By far, the biggest savings will probably come from reinventing the delivery of services through the MCDA, Planning NRP programs. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] city budget
Hello Minneapolis how are you doing? I have a question for the list. I know that there will be no money for the state projects this year and there is going to be a long battle over state funds. Is there any thing to worry about regarding the city budget? When does the City of Minneapolis have to turn in there requests to the Mayor? When are the citizens going to be going down to city hall to lobby for more city funds. How much does the city have now? Is the city in limbo like the state is with not having any money? If any one knows the knowledge when this might take place. Please let me know. Steven Mac.Donald Froemming 63A 11-6 Windom _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
