June 4, 2003 -- NEWS RELEASE -- State Representative Al Juhnke
rep.al.juhnke@house.mn
281 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
651/296-6206
3951 Horizon Hills Circle, Willmar, MN 56201
320/235-4442
LOCAL AID CUTS HAMMER AREA CITIES, COUNTIES
Willmar is hit with a state-aid loss of $1 million in the next two years under the GOP-designed local-aids bill that passed the Legislature during the special session, according to Rep. Al Juhnke.
City taxpayers will also feel the sting of a $2.7 million cut to Kandiyohi County in 2003, 2004 and 2005 - a one-two punch delivered by a bill that Republicans considered the linchpin of their strategy to balance the state's budget.
"The wealthy households of the Twin Cities, who drew the greatest benefits of the tax cuts of recent years, are barely touched by these aid cuts because their suburbs get little or no state aid,"
Juhnke, of Willmar, said. "But in Rural Minnesota, where few people saw much benefit from the unsustainable tax cuts that created the budget deficit, we are being asked to shoulder the burden of fixing the problem."
Across Kandiyohi County, more than $4.1 million in direct state aid is being taken away from cities and counties in the next two years. And that doesn't include the impact of cost items shifted from the state to the local level, such as health care.
"Our cities and counties have already been making cuts," Juhnke said. "Our local officials acted responsibly in preparing for a budget crunch. I think it is very wrong of Gov. Tim Pawlenty to be
threatening political retaliation against local officials who find themselves forced to raise local property taxes as a result of these cuts."
Deeper cuts lie ahead in future years as the revised local-aid formula is phased in. While some cities would recover part of the 2004 aid loss in 2005, it will be many years before city aid is back at 2003 levels. "We'll still be paying for this budget deficit long after it's a memory," Juhnke said.
Below is a chart detailing the bill's impact.
State Aid to Cities
Kandiyohi County
Willmar 
$4,544,634 3,944,322 4,145,377
Atwater 295,349 259,219 244,452
Blomkest 24,518 20,078 18,852
Kandiyohi 80,894 70,033 78,285
Lake Lillian 54,500 47,225 44,500
New London 237,375 196,225 221,333
Pennock 91,523 74,809 85,514
Prinsburg 107,065 94,516 89,163
Raymond 176,910 167,726 162,546
Spicer 139,718 80,881 127,793
Sunburg 20,951 17,467 20,820
TOTAL 5,773,828 4,972,501 5,239,210
Other Area Communities
Belgrade 166,775 142,514 157,725
Brooten 182,464 162,913 153,790
Brownton 209,972 184,611 175,803
Cedar Mills 2,420 1,956 2,711
Cokato 538,265 435,796 449,150
Cosmos 154,811 140,809 133,068
Darwin 13,521 10,992 14,014
Dassel 289,535 242,440 284,180
Delano 510,917 291,974 222,268
Eden Valley 220,554 182,872 179,894
Elrosa 15,925 12,755 15,668
Glencoe 1,156,012 919,743 997,504
Grove City 175,468 162,493 153,720
Howard Lake 384,770 295,413 367,722
Hutchinson 2,554,662 1,931,248 1,997,254
Kingston 7,828 7,123 8,023
Lake Henry 5,256 3,305 5,325
Lester Prairie 281,959 240,868 283,962
Litchfield 1,548,184 1,314,923 1,415,630
Paynesville 568,064 473,648 525,885
Plato 43,351 30,237 31,054
Silver Lake 187,980 156,715 147,316
Spring Hill 4,988 3,389 3,283
Stewart 192,611 176,076 166,445
Watkins 164,985 133,914 154,572
Winsted 562,674 457,213 547,706
County Aid
Orig. 2003 Aid / New 2003 Aid / 2004 Aid / 2005 Aid
Kandiyohi 3,040,582 2,334,253 1,788,773 2,221,636
McLeod 2,003,226 1,546,346 1,193,526 1,654,123
Meeker 1,477,201 1,207,889 999,906 1,116,557
Renville 1,131,079 856,807 644,995 859,579
Stearns 6,133,051 4,693,652 3,582,040 6,177,196
