Like Trying to Stop a Toyota

Governor Pawlenty has proposed cutting LGA (local government aid) to cities by $250 million, including cuts to Bemidji of $581,323 in 2010 and $302,000 in 2011. That means we have to make immediate reductions to the city budget. But putting the brakes on the city’s budget is like trying to stop a Toyota. The tax levy has already been set and can’t be changed, so budget adjustments must come in the form of efficiencies, service reductions, layoffs, fee increases, or. . . ?

Got any good ideas? The city will need all the help they can get to reduce this year’s budget because all the low hanging fruit was picked last year.

Pawlenty’s proposed cuts come on top of the $485,688 LGA reduction that the city has already incorporated into the 2010 budget. While Pawlenty’s cuts aren’t yet law and some legislators have said that LGA cuts in the final budget won’t be that high, it is pretty much universally agreed that cities will be hitting another pothole on the road to balancing the state’s biannual budget. (The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) provided insight into the preliminary 2010 budget and its impact on cities in their February 19, 2010 webinar.)

If past practice prevails, suggestions for cutting the budget will come from within. The city manager and department heads will put together their ideas for reductions to be presented to the council. Likewise, council members will probably have their own individual preferences for how to reduce the budget (as they did in 2009). Is this time-worn process of developing budget reductions—within the confines of city hall—the best way to carve out the cuts? Will it be fair to employees? Will it result in solutions that the community wants?

Last year’s LGA unallotment by the governor resulted in “out of the box” thinking by some cities. Spring Lake Park, MN implemented some creative strategies to reduce their budget that were the result of employee input and had community support. Each employee group was given a choice –whether they would be willing to take two weeks off without pay or make the decision to have someone in the group laid off. The choice was theirs to make. A variety of solutions emerged that included unpaid leave and the layoff of two part-time employees. City hall was closed for two weeks; once in August during the State Fair and for one week between Christmas and New Years. They didn’t receive any negative feedback from the community.

It’s time for Bemidji to broaden the process and get community buy-in by not only asking employees for solutions, but the community too.

What could community engagement look like? Listening sessions with council members? A community survey? How about asking for comments online? The legislature created a website for constituents to opt in with ideas and preferences for how to redesign state government. Bemidji residents can comment online at the city’s website.

It will take everyone on the Toyota team to get Toyota back on track. Engaging the entire Bemidji community in finding solutions to Bemidji’s budget makes sense too.