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NEWS For Immediate Release For more information call Duke Addicks, Director of Intergovernmental Relations, league of Minnesota Cities (612) 490-5600. LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA CITIES PRESIDENT DECLARES CITY UNITY DAY. "Thursday, April 21st, will be the first City Unity Day." League of Minnesota Cities President and Mayor of St. Cloud Chuck Winkelman declared. "The League of Cities Board of Directors has authorized a City Unity Rally at the State Capitol to demonstrate that all city officials throughout the state are working together to improve the delivery of city services to the over four million people who live, work and receive an education in one of our communities." The city of at its meeting on the declaration of Cities Unity Day, according to Mayor _ joined in "Residents of Minnesota Cities appreciate the ability of cities to provide services at a reasonable cost," League President Winkleman continued. "Drinkable water, plowed and maintained streets, sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreation programs, police and fire protection are all taken for granted. But city government leaders are also working to improve the local economy, ensuring that there are decent jobs and adequate housing for all." "To do this, city government needs fiscal stability," Winkelman adds, "Every city would like to be fiscally independent from state assistance, but the local property tax base often is inadequate to provide the financial resources to achieve this goal. The state contributes about five percent (just over five hundred million dollars) of its annual revenues to help cities maintain these services. This assistance to cities, in the form of homestead agricultural credit aid and local government aid, helps us to keep property taxes down." "If the Legislature and the Governor would help us strengthen our own local economies we could rely even less on state aids, and an improved property tax base would mean lower taxes for all." -over-