Aid, Tax, and Revenue Trends in Three Cities

In recent decades, steep reductions in state aid to Minnesota cities have resulted in significant increases in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per capita city property taxes and reductions in real per capita city revenues. Aggregate city data, however, can conceal...

State Aid Ups & (Mostly) Downs for Cities

Except for a few intermittent spikes, state aid to Minnesota cities has trended downward since 1990. In general, cities have dealt with declining state aid through a combination of property tax increases and budget reductions, although the city response to aid...

One-Sided Reverse Referendum Undermines Local Governance

A movement is again afoot in Minnesota to allow anti-tax voters to create new hurdles to local levy increases. Under the moniker of “taxpayer empowerment,” this initiative would allow voters as few as ten percent of the number voting in the last general election to...