At the September 23 meeting of the Rushford City Countil, Elizabeth Wefel, attorney and lobbyist with Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC), provided the council with a summary of the coalition’s work in the last legislative session. Rushford is a longtime member of the coalition, made up of more than 100 cities across the state. The group works on various issues including Local Government Aid/property taxes, environment and energy, economic development, transportation, annexation and land use, and labor and employment.
“Going into the legislative session, 2023, there was fairly low expectations and I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure those expectations were met,” began Wefels. “We knew going into it that there wasn’t going to be a lot of spending because there wasn’t a surplus. There were things we needed to fix from the previous year.”
Due to uncertainty about a possible deficit and not wanting to make it worse, there were few expectations about spending. Wefels noted the state was forecasting a “structural imbalance” suggesting revenue versus baseline spending wasn’t equal. She further explained that for the last 30 years, a bipartisan decision saw the state apply inflation in its revenue projections, but not in spending projections.
“Blame it on both parties, but let’s be a little more honest in how we budget things,” she added.
Specifically targeted areas included Emergency Medical Services benefits, a bonding bill, housing and zoning, local sales tax, and small cities streets.
Costs continue to rise and insurance reimbursements particularly by Medicare and Medicaid aren’t, adding to a crisis for emergency medical services. According to Wefel, the legislature considered CGMC’s a three-phase solution including $120 million in immediate aid dispensation, sustainable funding mechanisms, and long-term advocating for needs. In the end, the legislature approved $24 million in emergency aid and $6 million for geographical pockets in the state for a Sprint Medic Pilot Program.
“Under goal, but we do think it’s a step forward,” said Wefel. “We do believe it did help bring a lot of attention to the issue. People can’t ignore it anymore.”
Regarding the bonding bill, Wefel noted it’s the only place for meaningful impact from the minority party. One of the coalition’s biggest requests helped address the Public Facilities Authority Water Infrastructure program. This included assisting cities in rebuilding their water and wastewater infrastructure, dealing with the fallout of new contaminants, and a proposed state nitrogen strategy.
“It’s going to continue to get worse,” cautioned Wefel. “We’re very disappointed that didn’t happen.”
Most areas of the state are also dealing with housing problems and with a lack of funds, the goal was to make policy reforms to increase housing through density, address environmental concerns through land use, and address historical race-based zoning practices. According to Wefel, the initial bill was extreme. The housing push would significantly affect a lot of cities, forcing them to redo zoning, seek consultants, and the changes could overload infrastructure.
“One of our biggest concerns is that it does nothing to address the problems in greater Minnesota. Initially it made no distinctions between greater Minnesota and the metro. I don’t think there’s any thought on how it would play out, she stressed. “If you require this in Rushford, people are going to move right along the edges and you will have sprawl in your townships.”
Lastly, while the state added permanent funding for small cities’ streets two years ago, some of the small changes are being made. Wefels did note one proposal which would have required local governments to create a replacement funding for state-funded projects.
“You can’t do this to local governments,” said Wefel. “One of the biggest exemptions we got is that if you were doing Capital Improvement Planning it would not apply to you.”
Looking ahead, Wefel pointed at the upcoming election and a possible shift in party control. The legislature kicks off with new members in January 2025, two weeks later than normal.
In other news, the council unanimously approved the preliminary budget and tax levy at $1,180,232.
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