Vicky comments: The people in Waconia (and Aitkin and Moorhead, etc.) are
already subsidizing Minneapolis - and they're getting tired of doing so.
LGA (local government aid) is supposed to assist small, less affluent
localities. It was never intended to enable spendaholics. Minneapolis
needs some tough love from Mother Legislature.
Is this an example of intentional ignorance, flame-baiting, devil's advocate or what? By now, anyone who has been reading this list, knows full well that Waconia, Aitkin and Moorhead do NOT subsidize Minneapolis. Instead, the complete reverse is true. Minneapolis is a net contributor to the state of Minnesota. Minneapolis subsidizes hundreds or thousands of communities state wide, in addition to subsidizing whatever other spending the state engages in. Those are the facts, and even Tim Pawlenty's commissioner of revenue says so, and stated such in a Star Tribune article.
Vicky's definition of LGA is somewhat off the mark. LGA is not designed to assist "small localities" per se. It is designed to equalize the tax revenue available to localities across the state, having cities with larger economic engines of business and commerce generating property tax for those cities and income tax for the state, help those cities which have few or none of those engines, for example, bedroom communities and isolate rural towns. It's an effort to raise all the boats with the tide, instead of having some wealthy, vibrant communities dotting the landscape otherwise littered with poor, decaying, problemmatic communities. As a state, we are in this together.
Chris Johnson / Fulton
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