Area mayors and city officials on Wednesday urged state legislators to protect local government aid during this year’s legislative session. They said LGA cuts have caused cities to reduce services and in sometimes increase property taxes.

Speaking in a press conference at Albert Lea City Hall, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Albert Lea Mayor Mike Murtaugh and former state Rep. Dan Dorman explained how LGA cuts have impacted their respective cities.

Since 2008, the state has reduced LGA by $201 million, or 13 percent.

“If it’s true that strong states are built on the backs of strong cities, the state of Minnesota is setting itself up for a stunted economic recovery,” Coleman said. “Cities provide the essential services that encourage residents and businesses to make Minnesota home, and through deep cuts to LGA, cities simply can no longer provide the expected level of services at an affordable price to property taxpayers.”

He said the strength of the state comes from the strength of cities.

Citing St. Paul’s reaction to recent LGA cuts, he said, the city had to cut the parks and recreation department by 40 percent.

It has also reduced numerous employees, causing the employees that are left to have to do more with less.

He asked that the Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty to understand the challenges cities face.

The group also explained the results of a survey released by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities that asked how cities have dealt with LGA cuts in their 2010 budgets. Of the 58 cities that responded in the survey, nearly all had reduced expenditures, two-thirds had increased revenues such as property taxes and fees, and over one-third reduced their reserve fund.

Murtaugh said street maintenance was the most frequently cut service.

Sixty-nine percent of cities reduced their workforce, and 33 percent of cities reduced public safety personnel, resulting in a loss of 42 public safety positions across the state.

Murtaugh shared the example of the Albert Lea Public Library, which has gone from being open every day of the week a few years ago to now being open only five days a week. That is probably one of the most dramatic examples of how LGA cuts have affected Albert Lea, he said.

Dorman talked about LGA’s connection to job creation. He said when companies consider coming to a community, they look at the property taxes there. Minnesota already has a problem competing for businesses; LGA cuts will make that worse because of the direct correlation between LGA and property taxes, he said.

When the state puts money into the LGA program, property taxes go down, but when the state takes money out of the program, taxes go up.

He said LGA needs to stay a top legislative priority.

“Basic services ought to be affordable to all Minnesota cities, not just some,” Dorman said.

To protect LGA from deep cuts in 2010, the officials urged local legislators to follow their cities’ examples and use all budget tools, including expenditure reductions and revenue increases to repair the state’s long-term budget outlook.

The following are more results from the coalition’s survey, which explained service reductions by the participating cities:

65 percent of the cities that provide street maintenance had to cut services in this area.

40 percent cut public safety programs including police and fire personnel

39 percent of the cities with a pool cut pool hours

30 percent of cities with snow removal cut from this service

 27 percent of cities with libraries cut library hours

20 percent of cities with public safety programs not including police and fire personnel cut from this service.

55 percent of cities implemented wage freezes for nonunion employees

 74 percent of cities reduced their fund balance to offset the loss of LGA

3.5 percent of cities surveyed have had to use some form of short-term borrowing because of the reduction in revenue and the timing of aid payment cuts.

The survey found that the average property levy increase was 5 percent. Eighteen percent increased their property taxes by over 10 percent.

Murtaugh said the LGA cuts have been something that has affected both large and small cities.

After the presentation in Albert Lea, mayors were also expected to present similar presentations in Mankato, St. Paul, Moorhead and Bemidji.