Comment:  I posted the interesting parts, but you can follow the link for the entire article.  I agree with Mayor Ness in pointing out that out-state cities get to pay into the transit system and other funds yet not benefit from them.  No city in Todd County benefits from paying higher car and gas taxes funding the municipal state-aid highway system.  We get to pay into it and pave our own roads besides.

The state should learn to live within their own budgets so that cities and counties do not have to balance the states budgets.  I extend and open invitation to Rep. Otremba to discuss the issue at our council meeting.  We appreciated Sen. Ingebrigtsen stopping by a few weeks ago.

City Angry About Pull Back

.............Mayor Dan Ness said that the property-rich suburbs in the Twin Cities, which receive transit dollars from the state, haven’t been shouldering their fair share of the budget deficit.

“It’s the first ring suburbs that are eating our lunch,” he said. “They skated through in 2003 [another budget deficit year] and they’re doing it again.”

Ness urged Westrom and Otremba to stand against the metro interests and fight for the smaller, outstate cities. “We’re getting knocks over the head that we don’t deserve,” he said.

Ness said small cities like Alexandria, with all-volunteer firefighters, work hard to keep their budgets in line.

“To accuse us of not being accountable is the biggest insult you can make,” Ness said. “It’s just not true.”

........Otremba said there may be legislative talk about broadening the sales tax to include clothing or food but added it’s unlikely with another sales tax increase for the environment and arts poised to take place next July.

So in the end, the decision on how to handle the cuts rests with the city.

“You are the experts at city hall,” Otremba said. “We want to hear what you will do, tell us what you can cut.”

City Administrator Jim Taddei said the city will likely have to hold off on hiring two additional police officers – an expense it had budgeted for in 2009 to give the police department more manpower to cover areas that are being annexed.

Mayor Ness said that the city may also have to postpone capital expenditures, such as a new squad car and street department equipment. It may also have to hold off on hiring new employees and surfacing roads, he said.

“But that is a Band-Aid approach – sooner or later, it catches up with you,” the mayor said.

Our family wishes all of you a very Merry Christmas!!  In this busy time of season, I hope everyone has a chance to contemplate why we celebrate and here is a link to the verses we read as a family during Christmas.

Small communities struggle with stray dogs

Mike Nowatzki, The Forum
Published Monday, December 22, 2008

Halstad, Minn. - Penny Parden locked her arms around the chocolate Labrador retriever and summoned all of her strength to push the rowdy dog into its cold, dark, wooden kennel.

The dog resisted, biting her arm and, when she finally forced its body inside the box, wedged its head in the door to keep her from closing it.

Parden doesn’t blame the stray dog for fighting her attempts, given the conditions in the city-owned kennel.

“You just open the door and shove the dog in,” she said. “There’s no heat, you know. There’s no setup, and that’s really against Minnesota statute. That’s animal cruelty all the way.”

Last week, Parden resigned as Halstad’s animal control officer after City Council members shot down her offer to build a three-stall kennel to house strays for the mandatory five days required by Minnesota law.

In fact, all of Norman County needs a shelter, said Wade Krohmer, police chief in nearby Ada, where stray dogs are tied to a light pole at the public works building and, if the owner doesn’t claim them, taken out and shot.

The police department won’t pick up strays “unless we absolutely have to,” and the sheriff’s office, which serves Halstad, won’t pick them up at all, Krohmer said.

“They have no place to put them,” he said.

Bill Forbes, a board member with the Minnesota Animal Control Association, said Norman County isn’t alone in its struggle with strays.

“It’s a tough problem throughout rural areas around the country,” he said.

‘He died in my arms’

I just finished listening to a conference call from the League of Minnesota Cities. I thought it was well prepared and matter of fact regarding the coming budget crisis.

• The first thing cities and advocacy groups need to understand is that The Minnesota Miracle is dead and a relic of the past.  Until cities, counties, and advocacy group understand this the economic pain will continue. 
• Second we need to engage St. Paul to redefine a new Minnesota Miracle that fits 21^st Century economies and politics.  It means fundamental reform (sometimes painful reform) for state and local unit of governments alike.  Only then will everyone know the new rules so true innovation can take place.