State of MN Financing Local Government in the 1980's

Home Search

Special Report of VRT & CO. Page 4 The State budget problems from 1980 through 1983 were substantial and severe. The State took numerous actions to resolve these problems. An overview of the financial results of such actions will shed some light in determining how the State situation was resolved and (more importantly) what actions the State took once the problem was resolved. As stated previously, the State budgets itself on a biennium (two year) basis. When the State problem first came to public attention, the State had a proposed 1979 -81 budget. This proposed budget is an important starting point in that it signifies the State's financial intentions just prior to addressing its budget "balancing" problems. Legislative actions after this point are important because they signify just how the State resolved its budget problem and (more important) what the State did after its budget problems were apparently resolved which continue to adversely effect the financing of local government in Minnesota. A clear picture comes to light by comparing the State budget documents. A com- pilation and comparison of this data is presented on the following page. This data was extracted from actual State budget documents. It has been re- formatted into a format consistent with that used by many suburban Cities for their own budget process. This format allows for a clear overview of State budget and financial operations for the past few years and the current State biennium.