City of Montevideo officials received some unwelcome news last week when Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his administration wants to cut an additional $292,436 from the city’s local government aid (LGA) allotment this year to help balance the state budget.
If the proposed cut is made, the sum of LGA cuts for the city this year would total $558,350 as the state has already cut $265,914 from the city’s 2010 LGA funds. The city would have $1,382,405 remaining.
“We’re past finding the little things (to cut),” said Montevideo City Manager Steve Jones this past Monday. “Now it certainly starts cutting into the muscle.”
Jones said the additional LGA cut is expected, but the city was going to do what it could to see that it’s not as much as the governor proposed.
What concerns Jones the most is that there will be more cuts in the future if the state budget situation does not change.
“If this were only a one-time cut of $100,000 I could say ‘I’ll handle it,’” said Jones. “But if it’s $300,000 in embedded cuts, then people will notice cuts.”
According to Jones, it would take a 21 percent increase in local property taxes to make up for the proposed cuts.
“That’s not going to happen here,” he stressed. “We don’t want to see taxes go up.”
He indicated the city may have to change its capital improvement plan and not replace vehicles as often if LGA cuts continue in the future.
Adding to the problem, the city will have to take an additional $600,000 out of the capital improvement fund to pay its share of the levee reconstruction project. The cost has gone up to $1.6 million from the projected $900,000 because of funding related construction delays.
“We can’t do this for four or five years in a row,” said Jones. “It will mean fewer employees, fewer police, fewer services.”
When the first round of LGA cuts was announced last year, city officials and department heads were able to cope by cutting back on part-time summer help. In the past couple of years the city has cut back by not replacing full-time employees who retired. City hall and the public works department each lost one person.
If the proposed cuts happen, the city will likely cut back further on summer help, which will mean less grass mowing in parks and along highway right-of-ways. And Jones said the cuts will “sound the death knell” for the downtown flower baskets because the city will no longer be able to care for them.
The city will also consider closing the swimming pool for a month as well, according to Jones. The city subsidizes the pool annually to the tune of between $60,000 and $70,000.
“Staff will be working on ways to continue to cut,” he said. “We will share ideas with the council at future work sessions.”
