Agenda Packets - 1987/03/23 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-title -fn -In Page 2 grants. Compliance with these and requirements without federal help translates into sharply higher costs to the taxpayers of the cities. This year the League of Minnesota Cities prepared a report on the state of city government in Minnesota, entitled The State of the Cities 1 8 A copy of this report is enclosed or your information. a fin indings of the report are: Federal aid to Minnesota cities has declined by 38 percent in real dollars over the 1978-85 period. With elimination of general revenue sharing in 1987, the League projects that federal aid will have declined by 98 percent over the 1978-87 period. I Less federal and state assistance has required Minnesota cities to rely more on the property tax. This trend tends to make the state -local revenue system less progressive, that is, less related to ability to pay. Cities increased reliance on property taxes has unfortunately come at a time when the taxable property wealth of many cities has been declining. 0 State -funded property tax relief for Minnesota cities has also decreased, although not as substantially as federal aid. In real dollars, state aid to cities declined seven percent over the 1980-85 period. f Although expenditures by Minnesota cities in real dollars have declined by 2.4 percent since 1980, net city property taxes have climbed over 18 percent in real terms and other city own -source revenues (special assessments, user fees, etc.) have increased by over 16 percent. Such local tax increases have been necessitated by declines in federal and state aid. City employment in Minnesota has dropped a dramatic 24 percent since 1980, more than three times the rate of decrease of any other local governmental unit in the state. Per capita employment for city services in Minnesota is generally 30-50 percent below the national employment average for such services. We feel the information produced in this The State of the Cities 1987 report and misperceptions which we feel members of Congress have concerning city governments merit serious attention in the near future. I hope we will be able to further discuss our concerns on this subject when Minnesota city officials set up meetings with you during the upcoming Easter recess. Sincerely, Donald A. Slater, Executive Director cc: NLC delegates from Minnesota