In this morning’s Star Trib there was an article describing the budget cuts Minneapolis is inflicting on itself in order to prepare for the upcoming slash of the financial aid that it, and many other cities around the state, receive from the state. The Police Department alone in Minneapolis is cutting $7,000,000 from its current year budget. Ouch. The Chief’s proposal to the City Council is to reduce the force by 67 employees; 25 police officers and 42 civilians.
Eden Prairie doesn’t receive much state aid and we expect to lose 100% of it. Minneapolis was scheduled to receive $111,000,000 in state aid this year. We were scheduled to receive $172,000 in state aid this year. For us, that’s less than 1% of our General Fund operating budget for 2003. I’m not sure what the % loss is for Minneapolis, but I’m sure it’s in excess of 25% for 2003.
Earlier this week I shared my 2003 budget reduction plan with our City Council and employees in Eden Prairie. We will be reducing our 2003 operating budgets in our operating departments anywhere from 1% to 4.5%. Our cuts are marginal reductions and do not reduce the service levels that we planned for this year. In fact, we are planning to proceed with hiring two new police officers, a new fire inspector, and a new park maintenance worker this year.
Our City is not lucky to be in the position, but it is fortunate. Past City Councils and city staff have positioned the City well for the future. It’s times like these where you can really see that.
