This is a good portrayal of the fiscal challenges to our quality of life in our our state and our cities. Needless to say, it's got a different look and sound compared to the more typical background papers and spreadsheets. You've done a good job of presenting a complex issue in a fun and different way! Congrats to all involved.

I hope there was not any taxpayer money spent on designing, producing, and/or distributing this video. If there was, the taxpayers should be screaming for a refund. I forwarded the video to alot of my colleagues in local government and we are all wondering how the video's/cartoon's message will be taken seriously. There is not any new information in the video. All Minnesotan's know we are in a financial crisis. Portraying our state's financial crisis through this type of media/animation only downplays the significance and makes it look like a fantasy. No where in the video did I see any solutions offered or did I miss them while I was entertained instead of being educated.

There are numerous ways to correct both local and state issues in Minnesota. First let's look at long term....evaluate the current pension plans of government employees. Yes it's a great perk but with life expectancy increases we should examine ways to either delay payment at the tail end or increase number of years until full vesting. Changes today would reduce future debt of government. Imagine indexing for xx years below average life expectancy. (This should also be applied to social security on a federal level). Retirement at 65 made sense when life expectancy was what 72....but as life expectancy increases why doesn't age of eligibility increase? This would reduce long term cost.

Next stop mandating behavior. We get it government against smoking, that's fine. But WHAT IF some businesses could buy a special exemption permit to have smoking...make it expensive say 25 cents per beverage, or six figure flat annual fee. Some would sign up and bring in millions monthly, it would be a fee some businesses would love to pay (or have a set number of exemptions and open bidding for them, could bring in a lot more who knows).

To solve long term issues come up with plan to get working poor off welfare. Current system punishes people transitioning to full time work so they choose not to ever work...why not look at long term solution say you can make up to 30k a year and keep some/all benefits for I don't know a year or two. Long term good for the person, good for tax payers...doesn't punish people trying to get out of the cycle of poverty.

Third look at state or local casinos. The revenue is REAL and imagine the additional tourism dollars that it could bring in. This is a voluntary tax since casinos would only be taxed on profits and people would only gamble who chose to but the whole city/county/state could benefit.

Just a couple quick ideas...it's not that tough but convincing single mind set career politicians, and unintelligent voters is the real work.

Here is another wild idea which you have to hear the whole concept to make perfect sense...initially it won't until you hear the whole idea. Okay reduce fines for trivial vehicle offenses and focus on criminal acts (yes hear me out).

So let's say you get a speeding or seatbelt ticket. What is the current cost? About $200-$300 plus court costs etc. Well for that kind of money you fight tooth and nail to avoid paying...sure some just pay but others will hire attorney or show up to multiple court hearings (arrainment, pre-trial, and then trail) and fight to try and win. WHAT IF the fines were a more managable say $50 or $100. What would happen? I hypothesize the number of people fighting cases would be reduced and more fines would be paid. So yes the overall revenue goes down....but here's the cost savings. If you FIGHT a ticket you need to meet with a state prosecutor, court reporter, judge, then you have to do that 2-3 times to fight a ticket. IF the amount was lower and the number of people fighting tickets was in turn reduced we would be paying less to staff courts with all these personnel. Here's a hypothetical example....

100 tickets issued at $200 each. 70% of people fight tickets and appear in court (two times) and plead out for average cost of $100....10% go to trial (three appearances) with 2% win paying nothing and 8% lose paying the full $200. Math shows 7k + 1600 = $8,600 in revenue with percentages as follows:

people who goto two hearings 70%
people who goto three hearings 10%

Now imagine same tickets cut in half to $100 each. My theory less people fight ticket so that percentage drops from 70% to 40%. The percentage of people who goto trail is also cut in half to 5%. Where is the gain? Well people who decide to just pay it (since less money and less to fight over) jump from around 20% to 40%. Math shows 4k+ 2k = $6,600 in revuenue with percentages as follows:

people who goto two hearings 40%
people who goto three hearings 5%

so 55% aren't taking up the courts time...this is a reduction in revenue collected but a greater reduction in personnel expenses since less staff is needed. If we pay the average government worker 50k (average 80k judges and 40k support staff) then needing less judges and less support staff should be a great cost savings we can realize on both short and long term basis.

Don't like the video. Kinda like a rap song but harder to follow.
Message sounds like a kid whining for candy. Needs to be done with a sense that cities give a damn about the common family and cutting expenses.
Current distribution of State money to cities is not fair -- some get way more than their fair share.
State money should be tied to carrying out State Law requirements. Most currently is NOT related. That means the State tax money is allowed to be used for whatever the city council/staff want and is not very tied to the wishes of the local tax payers. If it is not related to upkeep or protection of property, then the State can decide what is required and they should fund it. Let property taxes relate to property and State law relate to what else is required. The current system of unfair distribution formulas creates extreme disparities in what is available among all our cities.

Got to agree with MaCat . . . not what I thought the video would be.
Neighbors were talking this weekend about the whole tax thing. Funny--if there is a flood, tornado, or other of this issue, everyone says government isn't doing enough and isn't fast enough. When everything is fine, you don't want government involved. We all want to have our cake and eat it too. My property taxes are actually lower than when I moved here almost 15 years ago. Considering I want my yearly raise it seems that government employees should get one too, and with inflation, shouldn't all costs be going up??? Do your reserach people. You couldn't even plow the street in front of your house all winter for what you pay in taxes!

I'll go with answering the city questions.

What city services do you and your family use? I'm most concerned about police and fire and roads. You should follow the budgets for the large and small cities and see if the rising crime is related to cuts in policing and subsequent arrests, especially in urban areas with larger social and economic issues. On a personal level, my family and I enjoy our community center and parks and recreation.

What would it mean for you if those services were reduced or eliminated? Increased crime and less recreational opprotunities.

How should these services be paid for? We need to look at the three-legged stool of local property tax, state sales and income tax and fees. We need to figure out how to balance out the revenue stream so it doesn't go up and down so hard with the economy. This might mean looking in particular at our sales tax, perhaps adding clothing, haircust and otherr items to it so it doesn't whiplash so much. It might be possible to slightly reduce the rate and make it close to revenue neutral while stabilizing the funding streams. Cities have the responsibility to keep empoyee costs down and employ best practices and technology. The also could remain autonomous while sharing services with other local governments (counties and other cities). Contract for services between units of govt, including police and 911, libraries, road maintance, park, and fire for economies of scale. It is pretty rediculus that some cities continue to have their own police departments even if they are unable to provide 24 hour coverage. There are examples of collaboration all over the state. Also, the state should not keep an increasing share of the sales and income tax paid by residents while passing down unfunded mandates to local government.

When I think about the city services I most rely upon, it's a combination of activities that I want to be available when I want to use them (libraries, recreation centers, swimming pools) and the things I just count on being there when I need them (police protection, firefighting, snowplowing, etc.). I feel strongly that every child in Minnesota should have free and easy access to safe, green places to play, and to libraries and swimming pools. I also think that Minnesotans, whether they recognize it or not, have made a trade off in their minds: brutal winters in exchange for a solid base of quality of life, which in my mind includes things like good police, fire, snowplow, and street services. We have to figure out how far is too far to let our services decline. How long is too long for a police officer to respond. How far is too far for a family to travel to a library. How much is too much to pay in taxes or fees.

I don't think the video/animation was intended more than as a way to start a discussion which it apparently has done...
My main criticism is that it's not specific enough in ascertaining where these budgetary problems came from. Unless that is addressed we can't really move forward. Some political realities have to be acknowledged as our current crisis wasn't created in a vacuum.

This video is great because in three minutes it captures why we love our state, the resources we depend on and how they’re at risk. Tammy makes a good point in that we don’t want government involved when everything is fine. However, when they’re not, government is the first to blame. As citizens, we want the government to provide more and more, but we’re often not willing to pay for those services because it’s easier to blame the government for not being able to balance a budget. Everyone is for cutting expenses, unless it’s an expense that impacts them; instead, we need to replace our individualist mindset and remember that we’re all in this together, as one community.

I believe that public schools and libraries are two of the most crucial services, and they need to be funded appropriately. These services are some of the best investments we can make towards a better Minnesota.

I think we can agree that the government needs to identify new revenue sources. Here are two: require postage for e-mails and create a tax (or service fee) on food items that contain high-fructose corn syrup (i.e., candy and pop) and fast food. For e-mails, it's essentially the same as postage for mail. Our increased use of electronics, in this case computers, requires an incredible amount of energy and those who use that energy - including myself - should be contributing to that expense. As for junk food and fast food, it's driving up health care-related costs and we need identify appropriate revneue opportunities to meet the rising expenses related to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. It only seems fair.

I like the idea of getting this message out there as it is very important to start educating the general public about local government. However, I didn't like the video. I like the concept...but it was very fast, and I think the message gets lost with just trying to keep up with the video. Slow it down and make the message CLEAR. Without local government and with the state government robbing from local government it directly affects every tax paying citizen. But not just with parks and recreation, police, and fire. It effects everything. Building codes, utilities, developing, engineering. All of it. Very scary if you ask me.

The video got me thinking about what I liked about where I live (my own community and where I work and travel in MN). When I think of the city I live in and the surrounding communities the important things to me are parks, schools, roads, sewer, police and fire, libraries, community centers and businesses. I'm willing to pay for services through taxes - as long as EVERYONE is held accountable for paying taxes because if I hear one more story about a wealthy person, a celebrity, or a politician who doesn't have to pay taxes I might just stop paying myself - not really, but that's how I feel.

We've become too much of a "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" way of being and I don't like this way of running government or business. Let's all hold each other accountable from this day forward. To know the state takes away from cities to balance their own budget doesn't sit well with me. I think some good ideas were presented in other responses; how can we make that happen? Maybe we should each bring one to our own city councils and get the conversation started.

Thanks for this video, putting a complex issue in a fun and compelling format! I certainly feel strongly about investing in our cities, to ensure their beauty and functionality for generations to come. It is tough to think of "new ideas" -- right now I feel pretty convinced that the first step is to increase revenues so we can redirect the flow towards having stronger, more efficient infrastructure. You get what you pay for. Let's invest in Minnesota again!

"Impending budget cuts mean that local government will need to change the way it works, largely moving away from a model of delivering services to and for people, to a model of delivering services with people."

That's from a new UK report titled "Listen, Participate, Transform: A social media framework for local government."

http://www.youngfoundation.org/files/images/Listen__Participate__Transform.pdf

I just posted about this to our blog here in Northfield, as thus far, the disincentives for local public officials to engage the public in meaningful ways are stronger than the incentives.

http://locallygrownnorthfield.org/post/18210/

Constant and growing shortages of money in all sectors of the economy are due to the unpayable cost of money, all of which is created and placed into circulation as interest-bearing loans and extinguished when repaid. In this process, only the principal is created. The interest is paid with other loan principal captured in the process of commerce. Growing money shortages will continue unless we increase the money supply in a way that does not increase our indebtedness. Create money as electronic bookkeeping entries just as all money is created now when we borrow it but, create the money and spend it, don't lend it into circulation. Do it as a final, debt-free payment for wages earned in producing a public benefit -- building and maintaining public roads and bridges. This increases the economy's critically needed cash flow as incomes for new jobs without more taxes, cuts, borrowing or inflation as the money supply will increase with productivity gains. Since our Federal representatives will not address this issue Minnesota must exert its state's rights and implement this process through the state-chartered, state regulated banking industry. We cannot pay debt with debt and get rid of the debt. There is no other solution. Taxing, cutting, borrowing has been tried for generations and has gotten Minnesota, 48 other states, America and the World drowning in a sea of unpayable interest-bearing debt that has placed us into economic servitude and that will destroy us...the symptoms are becoming very obvious. The New Normal should be Economic Freedom, prosperity and a bright future, not the dismal new Normal being marketed to us by those who do not understand or do not want to understand our debt-money system. All it takes is a paradigm shift from debt, owing, economic servitude and shortages to wealth, owning, economic freedom and plenty. Let's finally get honest with each other about what's really happening.

Maybe it's time to consider looking at the extrapolated data used by the HHI and re-evaluate the cost-benefit analysis in an unbiased manner.

Compensation and benefits plans (primarily pensions) for public employees need to be aligned with private sector plans. Public employee pension funds are now nearly $1 trillion dollars under funded according to a report by Pew Research. These plans should change to a defined contribution system and move away from a defined benefit model.

I appreciate the conclusion the study came to. I have suggested for many years that if we allow our local governments to run as they are it will break. I have also been told by my city officials for several years that they are "bare bones". However they keep finding ways to keep delivering services just fine. So How do we know there are really as efficient as they could be? I have asked questions recently of my elected officials and I can't seem to get a reply. So do you really want our input? My experience indicates that you don't. The League is simply preparing a case to convince the taxpayer that the cities need more money. I think it is rather interesting that we pay our tax dollars to the league in order for them to not lobby in our best interests.

Here is a harsh reality - should cities who cannot fund themselves without revenue from the state exist?

In other states I've lived in, cities have their own income taxes (in addition to state income tax). If LGA is being decreased, why is increasing property taxes the only answer? An income tax would spread the burden/responsiblity more.

On of the real problems is that so many of the services we take for granted. If all of them went away what would you miss first? Likely trash collection (exept for St Paul) or for me public transportation. I don't go to the library or the park or call the police or fire deptment everyday but I want them to be there. As long as it isn't snowing it takes a long time for street maintenence to be missed. Unless there is a break I don't notice the sewage system. Part of the problem is that business taxes have changed in the past 20 years. Business take advantage of much of the public good (streets etc) the same as individual and need to pay their share. Everyone seem willing to give up the services they don't use or cut someone else pension we need to recognize we are all in the same boat.

There may be somethings we can pitch in and help. an example - For one I would like to see All cross walk cleared in the winter so they are wheel chair accessable (and no I am not in a wheel chair - yet) Often this needs to be done in the middle of the day when everyone is at work. Maybe junior high and high school class rooms to adopt an intersection and go during their lunch hour and clear it.

I like the last portion of Jane Doe's comment about getting some of the smaller but esential jobs done by volunteers...by students, non-violent inmates from jail, retired etc. Others I can think of besides shoveling snow may be mowing in parks, bouvelards, empty lots. Another thought was, is it necessary for all three rescue departments (police, fire, ambulance) to go out for every call? I understand that retirement plans for government workers is quite generous compared to many in the private sector...can that be corrected or frozen?

I just came from our city council meeting where the council approved a preliminary levy and a preliminary budget. A citiizen asked to be recognized for a question or comment on the levy resolution. He was denied and told he would have his chance at a later date. After the meeting I asked my council person if he had seen the budget document he just voted to approve. The answer was no. My message to the League is that your members are not listening to your study results or your advice. My suggestion for saving taxpayer funds is to stop paying dues to the League and the Coalition of Greater Minnesota cities.

Outrageous that any government entity would publish this partisan commercial. The whole slant was towards higher taxes and more spending. How maliciously deceitful to suggest that all our tax dollars go to roads, cops and fire departments. The bulk goes to endless welfare programs and unions controlling the government skools. Why are you afraid to show the truth?

Our political “leaders” are often useless idiots who can’t make it in the private sector. Why do you glamorize them as gods? The fact that they are in financial trouble is proof of their incompetence. We employ them to solve financial issues, not cause them. Why do you feel it is necessary to create this video aimed at the innocent public – when these genius politicians created their problems by overspending? Yell at the politicians not us. You dunces.

Uh, Marty...this was made by the League of CITIES, so it's talking about CITY tax dollars. I don't know about your city, but mine (a) does not fund welfare programs or schools AT ALL (those are other parts of government), and (b) spends about half of our city property taxes on police alone. Then add those roads and fire on top of that...

You talk about aiming this at the "innocent" public -- but perhaps it's aimed at the IGNORANT public, with you as a prime example. You pontificate about how you believe most of your city taxes go to welfare programs and schools, and you are completely misinformed. Imagine the trouble politicians have trying to maintain roads, police and fire protection when "geniuses" (to use your term) like you are yelling at them to lower taxes because you don't even know what your taxes pay for.