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Mayor Rybak announces fewer cuts, increased public safety measures in 2004 budget address

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today delivered his second annual budget address and presented his 2004 City budget to the City Council.

"There's light at the end of the tunnel." Mayor Rybak said. "We have to sustain the cuts we made earlier this year in response to state aid cuts, but the good news is that through common-sense management and long-range planning we can balance the budget without making a deeper round of cuts in 2004."

Key accomplishments of the Mayor's proposed budget include:

• Prioritizing public safety. Despite massive Local Government Aid (LGA) cuts from the state, including an additional $1.8 million cut imposed last week, there will be no further cuts in the Police or Fire Department. This budget also allows the City to hire back the 32 laid-off firefighters and the Police Community Service Officers (CSOs). Transferring some inspections work to the fire department, innovative management and long-term planning mean the City will see more firefighters and cops on the street. In addition, the City will fully fund an upgrade for the criminal case management system at a cost of $2.8 million, which will help address the problem of repeat offenders.
• Minimizing cuts across the City. While deep cuts made in 2003 must be maintained, deeper cuts are avoided for other city services in 2004. By making tough choices as soon as LGA cuts were announced last year, the City avoided deeper cuts this year.
• Stabilizing community development. This budget establishes a smaller, but stable funding stream for housing, jobs and economic development activities, including the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). Activities will be aligned with city priorities and targeted to those most affected by state cuts.
• Maintaining a responsible tax policy. This budget stays within the City's adopted tax policy that caps the City's share of property taxes increases at eight percent. Half of this goes just to pay off past debts, while half pays for growth in costs, such as the 20 percent increase in health care costs for the workforce.

A number of factors contributed to balancing the budget, including:

• Making tough choices early this year. By making tough choices as soon as proposed LGA cuts from the state were announced last spring, the City avoided deeper cuts this year.
• Creating a leaner, more efficient government. Reforms and management efficiencies like the merging of the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, the City planning department and other development functions to create the Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) department have created economic efficiencies.
• Maintaining our wage policy. The two percent cap on wage increases the City approved last year will save the City $5 million in cuts and save 500 jobs over five years.
• Fiscally responsible use of the Legacy Fund. The budget uses a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Hilton Hotel to pay down inherited pension fund debt, which eliminates $1.5 million in annual debt payments from the City's General Fund.

The budget includes a small investment of $200,000 for restoring our canopy of elms and other trees that line our streets. The City has sustained a serious Dutch Elm hit this year, and we haven't been replacing trees at the rate they have fallen. This investment will triple what the Park Board normally spends on new trees each year.

The City's budget for street, bridge and lighting maintenance took a serious hit of more than 30 percent last spring when the LGA cuts were adopted. The Mayor was planning to build more stable public works funding in this budget, but the last week's additional $1.8 million LGA cut forced the elimination of these funds.

"The challenge in 2004 will be to pursue new revenue sources for Public Works so we can maintain our infrastructure." Mayor Rybak said, "This is now more urgent due to additional cuts."

The 2004 City budget submitted by Mayor Rybak totals $1.24 billion. The General Fund budget was cut by $29 million, as compared to the originally adopted 2003 budget. This is the fourth budget the Mayor has crafted in his 20 months in office, because of state budget cuts passed on to the City and cuts left to be made from the previous City Council.

The Mayor's 2004 budget presentation slide presentation (PDF)

August 14, 2003