Hot Topics: Budget

LMC Resources to Assist in 2012 City Budget Preparation

The League offers many resources that may assist city officials throughout the budgeting process, including the following:

  • Budget Guide for Cities (pdf): Contains 2012 legislative changes and is intended to assist city managers, clerks, finance officers, and elected city officials in preparing 2013 city budgets. It includes state and federal laws affecting city budgets, information about standard city expenditure items, descriptions of city revenues, and more.
  • Property Tax 101 (pdf): Is intended to describe the basics of Minnesota’s property tax system, which helps fund the services of schools, counties, cities, townships, special districts, and the state general fund.
  • State Homeowner Property Tax Relief Programs 101 (pdf): Provides a basic description, information on eligibility criteria, and a sample calculation of benefits for each of the three property tax relief programs aimed at homeowners—the Homeowner’s Property Tax Refund Program, the Targeting Property Tax Refund, and the Senior Citizen Property Tax Deferral Program.
  • MVHC Changes: Resources for Cities: Provides resources about the conversion from market value homestead credit (MVHC) to the new market value exclusion enacted during the 2011 special legislative session.
  • City Fund Balances 101 (pdf): Provides an overview of the critical issues surrounding city fund balances, the different components of fund balances, and the basic characteristics that most city fund balances share.
  • Dates for City Budgets (pdf): Outlines important dates for cities in the various state aid and credit systems as well as in the property tax system.

Other LMC budget resources:

Access more budget-related resources on the League’s Property Taxes, State Funding & Fiscal Issues page