Angst-filled cities look for cuts

If you're looking for a case study of municipal angst in Minnesota this fall, Red Wing offers as good a one as any.

It's a centerpiece in the latest look at "cities in crisis" by reporter Nancy Lebens. Last week she showed how even policing is under scrutiny as cities tighten their budgets, and you can find this latest overview of the situation here. She'll be on All Things Considered talking about the story this afternoon.

Even though Red Wing has a power plant that helps the property tax base and the tourism business is doing OK in the historic Mississippi River town, the city has been struggling the past couple of years as state aid has been tightened and the economic squeezed.

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Red Wing cut back swimming pool hours to save money, but city officials decided against closing it.

Here's a thumbnail from the story of some of what residents have seen so far.

Already, residents see day-time police patrols less often, and city swimming pool hours have diminished. Streets aren't swept as often, and gravel roads are graded less frequently. In winter, city workers don't shovel as many sidewalks and no longer haul snow from residential cul de sacs. In summer, they mow the grass less often.

Residents don't get the city hall newsletter in the mail anymore, and community access television has been reduced. The city's diversity festival gets less government help; the library purchases fewer materials. Streetlights have been turned off, and the summer recreation program has shrunk. Ice skating rinks aren't maintained as well.

If a loved one dies in the winter, a Red Wing resident must choose between waiting for summer for burial or paying the extra cost of digging a grave in winter.

Meantime, city taxes are rising and fees seem likely to be added to utility bills.

It looks like Red Wing won't close the city pool but they are looking at the possibility of shutting down their electricity-producing garbage incinerator because it's losing $500,000 a year.

As I mentioned earlier, we're building a topic page on this subject. If you want to know what ails Minnesota cities this fall, check it out.

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