For city budgets, the angst is back

The angst is back. You can feel the blood pressure rising in city halls around Minnesota this week.

Last fall, we found a lot of stories about how cities were approaching their 2011 budgets with trepidation, looking for cost-savings, cuts and new revenue, trying to get residents involved in the debate. All the while, the big unknown was how much a cash-strapped state government would contribute to those local budgets. You can find that coverage at our Cities in Crisis topic page.

Now that Republicans have kicked off the debate with a proposal to cut much of that local government aid, how cities define what they do for residents is back in front of us. You can track developments around the state at MPR News' Minnesota Today, a compendium of what news organizations are reporting on the topic. Some officials say they planned well; some are turning up the volume of objections at the Capitol.

Come back often.

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