Update from the Mayor – July 29, 2005

July 29, 2005

News from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak

2006 Budget Address Outlines Fiscal Principles

Yesterday afternoon I delivered my 2006 Budget Address to the City Council and a packed room of community advocates, business leaders and elected officials.

I reminded the City Council about the difficult financial problems we have faced, including debt inherited from prior city administrations, state and federal cuts to police and fire, and a national economic downturn.

However, in Minneapolis we’ve traveled a different course than the state and federal government. We’ve stuck with our core values and we lived our principles. We’ve lived within our means and I’ve balanced the City budget six times in four years. I’ve been “paying off our credit card” and have reduced tens of millions of dollars of City debt. And for the first time in memory every city department under-spent its budget.

We have established a clear financial record of innovation, decisive action and progress against the odds created by state cuts. My 2006 plan maintains a commitment to solid fiscal principles and makes real progress on our city’s highest priorities. I was able to unveil a vision yesterday that includes:

• Hiring 71 new police officers, whereby Minneapolis will have more cops on the street than when I was elected in 2001.
• A total of $72 million of debt reduction in four years, including $10 million of debt reduction in 2006.
• Implementation of the city’s innovative 311 reform initiative that allows residents to place “One Call” for any city-related question or service need from tree removal to business growth.
• New, high fire safety response standards that focus on getting the right amount of firefighters to a fire in the shortest amount of time.
• A proactive plan to end chronic homelessness, to be led by long-time and well-known homelessness advocate Cathy ten Broeke.
• New Career Centers in every Minneapolis high school to help every 9th grader develop long- term career plans.
• A dynamic vision for the city with increased funding for four new city planners focusing on creating plans for Downtown, Uptown, Neighborhoods and city-wide transportation.
• Ten new crime safety cameras to be used in Minneapolis neighborhoods, similar to the successful deployment downtown.

My budget plan will make Minneapolis safer, will invest in stronger kids and families, will set new standards for innovative city services and will build a vision for a thriving, vibrant city. A budget plan is about more than numbers, it is about how we express our values as a community and about how we want our city to look, run and feel.

In addition to the large number of new officers and the strong fire safety response standards, my budget supports efforts to diversify the police force, expand criminal prosecutors in police precincts, deploy more crime safety cameras and fund domestic abuse programs. After four years of tough budget decisions, I feel like we are making real progress in the face of tremendous challenges.

If you would like to watch my 2006 Budget Address, it will be rebroadcast on the City’s Cable Channel 14 at 9:00 p.m. Mondays and Fridays and at noon on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Fire Department Establishes Response Time Standards

In an effort to maintain high safety standards for everyone who lives and works in the city, the Minneapolis Fire Department has adopted new response time standards. These are some of the highest standards in the nation for response times to fire-related emergencies. The standards include maintaining the following response time at least 90-percent of the time:

• For fires and EMS calls, a response time of 5 minutes or less for the first unit to arrive.
• For fires, technical rescues, hazardous materials incidents and weapons of mass destruction events, a response time of 9 minutes or less for the first three companies and a battalion chief to arrive when dispatched as part of an initial response assignment.
• For fires, technical rescues, hazardous materials incidents and weapons of mass destruction events, a response time of 10 minutes or less for the full first alarm assignment, including the battalion chief, to arrive when dispatched as part of a full first-alarm response.

Now that the fire safety standards are adopted, I will guarantee that these standards are sustained with the necessary funding for the fire department that I announced yesterday in my 2006 Budget Address.