Local government, aid to the poor hit hard by unallotments

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Governor Tim Pawlenty on Friday announced cuts – known as unallotments – to the state budget in order to close the yawning $428 million deficit this fiscal year. The move left some legislators and public officials worried, and one advocate for the poor called it “an assault on the underclass.”
Two weeks ago, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson announced Minnesota faced a dramatic shortfall in revenues, meaning the 2008-2009 state budget would have to be cut back before the current fiscal year ends in June of next year. Part of the deficit will be closed with $155 million from the state’s budget reserves, and the remaining cuts will come from a number of sources, most notably $110 million from local government aid and $73 million from human services spending. “Are there a few things we can cut?” asked Blaine Hill, the city manager in Morris, MN. “Probably, but not many.”
Hill said after Pawlenty cut $35 million in local aid in the 2003 budget crisis, many cities, including Morris, had to re-organize and dramatically streamline their operations. Continue Reading

Rep. Greiling: T-Paw appointees “obviously told to stonewall legislature” in budget crisis

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Senior state legislators unloaded with both barrels at Pawlenty appointees yesterday at a hearing held by the House of Representatives’ Finance Committee, frustrated by apparent stonewalling by the Pawlenty-appointed heads of state agencies. The hearing had originally been convened to gather information on what elements of the budget could be cut in efforts to close this year’s $231 million budget deficit, a process called “unallotting.”
Alice Seagren, the Commissioner of Education repeatedly told legislators that she had not concerned herself with the fate of millions of dollars in state aid to local school districts because the money was not directly spent by the Department of Education. House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Hibbing) lambasted her presentation as “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic while [state government] should be paying attention to the looming iceberg” of potentially crippling cuts to school funding. Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) repeatedly pressed Seagren on the fate of school districts that might run out of money if their state aid was cut for the rest of the year. When Seagren professed no knowledge of cuts’ possible impact, Kelliher sharply pointed out that oversight of the public schools and leadership on education policy are part of Seagren’s job as Commissioner of Education. Continue Reading

Watch out for falling school budgets

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As Minnesota governments reel from the December 4 announcement of the $5.3 billion state budget deficit Twin Cities schools are nervously examining their own budgets in anticipation of cuts in state aid. $476 million of the deficit announced last week will fall during this budget cycle, and the remaining $4.8 million will fall in the next 2-year cycle, beginning in 2009. Even as the state announced its budget deficit, Minneapolis Public Schools announced that the district is facing a $28 million shortfall for the 2009-2010 school year, up by $6 million from projections made in January. The district’s December 5 press release said:
“- Enrollment projections will decline 2.8% next year – a smaller decline than in years past, but a decline nonetheless.- State revenue will not increase next year. Earlier projections had anticipated a 2% increase from the state, but that assumption has been changed to a 0% increase, given the recent state economic forecast.- Personnel costs, which account for 80% of the budget, do not include any increases beyond what is currently identified in existing contracts.- Investment earnings losses of $4 million.”
“We don’t know what we’re going to do for the long term,” MPS’s Chief Financial Officer Peggy Ingison said in an interview. Continue Reading

Fixing a flat: Bike basics

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Presta valve. Lock ring. Derailleur. The bike guru tells you what you need to know to get rolling again. Part 1

Part 2

See other bike basics videos:Bike Basics #1
Bikes on a bus: Bike basics
Bike=car: Bike basics
Wear and tear and traffic and grit: Bike basics
Fixing a flat: Bike basics Continue Reading