The Minneapolis City Council tonight passed Mayor Rybak's proposed 2004 City budget on an 11-2 vote.
"This budget represents a significant investment in affordable housing and maintains our core City services. At the same time, we're addressing long-term debt, following through on our five-year budget plan, and we've absorbed significant permanent cuts from the state," Mayor Rybak said. Eighty-three percent of the new property tax revenue is to pay off long-term debt. Rybak continued, "I'm pleased that all of my major initiatives passed, and the changes made by the Council only improved the budget." The 2004 City Budget accomplishes the following: * Prioritizes public safety. This budget made no cuts to the Police or Fire Department. Transferring some inspections work to the fire department, innovative management and long-term planning mean the City can do more with less, and citizens in crime-impacted neighborhoods will see more firefighters and cops on the street. This budget also allowed the City to hire back the laid-off firefighters and a diverse class of Police Community Service Officers (CSOs) earlier this year. In addition, the City will fully fund an upgrade for the criminal case management system at a cost of $2.8 million, which will help address the problem of repeat offenders. * Minimal cuts in other departments. While deep cuts made in 2003 must be maintained, deeper cuts are avoided for other city services in 2004. By making tough choices as soon as LGA cuts were announced earlier this year, the City avoided deeper cuts for 2004. * Establishes stable and ongoing funding for affordable housing. This budget invests almost $10 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for rental housing and significant additional funds to assist families with home-ownership. * Stabilizes community development. This budget establishes a smaller, but stable funding stream for housing, jobs and economic development activities, including the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). Activities will be aligned with city priorities and targeted to those most affected by state cuts. * Fiscally responsible use of the Legacy Fund. The budget uses a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Hilton Hotel to pay down inherited pension fund debt, which eliminates $1.5 million in annual debt payments from the City's General Fund. The budget also increases funding for many of the small things that make the City of Minneapolis liveable. This includes a new skate park for kids, additional funding for bike trails and amenities for skiing at Wirth Park. The City will also triple the current budget for tree planting, with the goal of planting 5000 trees in 2004. Mayor Rybak singled out Ways and Means Chair Barbara Johnson, Council President Paul Ostrow and Council Member Barret Lane for their many hours developing the five-year financial plan that made it possible to limit further service cuts. The budget is balanced and consistent with the City's adopted tax policy. This is the fourth budget Mayor Rybak has crafted and the City Council has passed in nearly two years. Laura Sether, Office of Mayor Rybak Standish-Ericsson 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
