On his radio program this morning, Governor Pawlenty has claimed that city local government aid (LGA), the revenue sharing mechanism to keep local property taxes in check, has “really gotten out of control” and that “we need to trim the program.”  Like the crew of the Enterprise in the new Star Trek movie, Pawlenty must be living in an alternate reality.

The current LGA formula was designed by the Pawlenty administration in 2003 and implemented the same year.  During Pawlenty’s tenure as governor, funding for LGA has fallen dramatically.  From 2002 to 2008, city LGA has fallen by $80 million prior to the cuts that the governor imposed last December; after the cuts, final 2008 LGA will be $134 million (24%) less than it was in 2002.  Since when does a 24% cut over six years equal “out of control” growth?

Based on the governor’s proposed budget from the last legislative session, LGA would be slashed again.  By 2010, LGA would be nearly $200 million (35%) less than what it was in 2002 if the governor has his way.

Furthermore, the figures above do not adjust the LGA amounts for inflation and population growth.  In real per capita dollars, final 2008 LGA will be 47% less than in 2002.  With the cuts that the governor proposed during the session, real per capita LGA would be 56% less in 2010 than it was in 2002.

No one expects (or is even asking) that LGA payments to cities go completely unscathed as the governor attempts to balance the state budget via unallotment-an authority that he assumes by virtue of the fact that he refused to compromise with the legislature on a balanced approach to the state’s budget mess.  However, it is important to note that real per capita funding for LGA in 2009 prior to any cuts is almost identical to what it was in 1972-the first year of the LGA program.  There are few programs in the state budget that show zero growth over a 37 year period.

It is clear that the governor is planning to gut LGA, perhaps even more than what he proposed in his earlier budget proposal.  Why else would he make absurd comments about “out of control” growth in LGA that bear no semblance to reality?  By continuing to dump the state’s budget mess on to the laps of property taxpayers and local governments, Pawlenty can continue to posture as the champion of “no new state taxes.”

Like the new Star Trek movie, Pawlenty’s comments about LGA are fiction, not fact.  Unlike the new Star Trek movie, his comments are entirely predictable.

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