Typically around this time of year, City Administrator Aaron Parrish and City Clerk/Treasurer Betty Arvidson sit down with members of the city council to gather input on their biggest budget priorities, or hear about areas of the budget that some council members feel should be trimmed. Then, Parrish and Arvidson will take the information they've gleaned from the council and use it as they start crafting the next year's budget with the department heads.
As part of the process of crafting the city's 2011 budget, Monday evening's Finance Committee was supposed to be when council members offered up their input to Parrish and Arvidson.
But they didn't have much to offer. Considering the current and projected multi-billion deficits that have legislators and the governor scrambling in St. Paul to keep the state's finances from collapsing entirely, local officials seem resigned to the fact that doing much beyond hoping for the best but preparing for the worst is a futile gesture at best at this juncture.
"Quite frankly, it's a big old mess," Parrish said, summing up the saga in St. Paul.
It's not like the council is sitting on its hands, though. Earlier this year, from a list of proposed budget reductions totaling $458,000, the council authorized around $290,000 in reductions, some that take effect immediately and some that will over time. That reduction was supposed to give the city budget around $120,000 in breathing room when the latest reduction in Local Government Aid to Crookston was factored in.
Monday, however, council members were talking about the very real possibility of revisiting the list of proposed reductions, and cutting deeper.
"No one wanted to cut two police officers and save $115,000, but with talk like we're hearing tonight, that's probably moving up the ladder," said committee chair Marlys Mjoen, from ward two.
Capital expenditures have been minimal at best as a moratorium has been in place for more than a year. But Ward Four Council Member Wayne Melbye said holding the line on capital improvements will only help the bottom line so much. "Sooner or later it's going to be positions," he said.
Current budget law indicates that Crookston is in line for a $90,000 LGA reduction in 2011, but local officials are taking that with a grain of salt, at best. With a state budget deficit projected to be as high as $8 billion in the next biennium, Parrish said the city could be facing at least two biennial budget cycles before anything starts to look up.
