Local Government Aid good for St. Cloud, reminder that we all need each other

After a short recess, the Minnesota legislature returned this week for the final six weeks of the legislative session, which ends on May 22. Already, the state legislature has passed several significant bills from universal school lunch and carbon-free energy to solidifying abortion rights. Yet there are still many things on the table and there will surely be some interparty contention in the negotiations between DFLers and Republicans, but there also looks to be some intraparty disagreement where DFLers will be negotiating with themselves on how to move forward.

These types of intraparty disagreements are a good thing and can provide good lessons. They demonstrate that parties aren’t necessarily monolithic, and that disagreement doesn’t have to lead to bitter division. There’s another good lesson for all Minnesotans in one of the areas the legislature will address over the next six weeks: Local Government Aid (LGA).

Folks can use the Google machine to learn more about the specifics of LGA, but in short, it’s a state subsidy program that redistributes wealth primarily to cities in greater Minnesota. The subsidies from LGA are what help reduce the need for increasing property taxes and other levies at the local level. Of course property tax increases and levies are still necessary at times, but they would be significantly higher throughout greater Minnesota were it not for this generous form of wealth redistribution.

Just how much does our area benefit from LGA? In 2023 St. Cloud received more than $14 million. In St. Joseph, Mayor Rick Schultz was recently quoted as saying LGA made up “30 percent of the city’s budget.” Now, not all of our area gets this benefit (Waite Park for example got $0 in 2023), but still you can imagine what it would look like to have to make up that money were it not for the subsidy flowing from the LGA program. LGA benefits some metro areas as well with Minneapolis and Saint Paul receiving more than $74 million and $72 million (in 2023), respectively.

At the beginning of this year’s session, Governor Walz proposed increasing LGA by $30 million, which led to a harsh response from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. His current proposal increases LGA by $40 million (clearly in response to what he was hearing from the CGMC) but a separate proposal from DFLers working its way through the legislature would raise LGA (and the similar but smaller County Government Aid) by $150 million. The higher proposal meets the request from CGMC and ties the program’s funding to inflation.

CGMC has been advocating for an LGA increase in part due to the impact of inflation and this proposal seems to address that issue and responsibly plan ahead. While we won’t know exactly what changes to LGA will look like until the session ends, it looks clear that LGA is going to get a boost and greater Minnesota will benefit from an influx of funding to hold up core functions of rural city and county governments.

To me, LGA provides a great lesson on the old saying, “we’re all in this together.” Some people will blanch at the phrase “wealth redistribution” but that is exactly what LGA does. Through wealth redistribution, LGA creates some semblance of equity on the core functions of local government and without it, many cities would either crumble or be forced to enact major tax increases.

Regardless of party affiliation or specific locale, LGA has a direct benefit to about 90 percent of cities in Minnesota and their residents who rely upon local government services. In our current polarized political climate, you are witnessing a DFL Governor, and DFL-led legislature propose significant boosts to a program that primarily benefits a lot of areas that did not vote for them. Good. This is what responsible governance is supposed to look like: improving the lives of all citizens, regardless of party affiliation.

It is important to recognize that wealth redistribution happens all the time and can improve people’s lives. Rural areas are dependent on wealth generated in the metro in order to function. Metro residents rely upon goods and services produced in greater Minnesota. Our state government and the people of Minnesota have made the choice over and over again to redistribute wealth to better citizens’ lives. Why? LGA provides us this regular reminder, made concrete in our local budgets, and led by mostly non-partisan civil servants, that we all need each other and whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together.

Times Writers Group member Malik Stewart is a higher education professional and St. Cloud resident. He writes about local and national issues from a multicultural perspective. His column is published the third Sunday of the month.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Local Government Aid good for St. Cloud