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+ Cities' heavy reliance on local taxes gives them every incentive <br />to be frugal in their spending patterns. while Minnesota cities <br />raise 63 percent of their revenue locally, counties raise only <br />46 percent of their revenues locally and school districts raise <br />44 percent locally. <br />* As cities have been forced to use their tax bases more heavily, <br />those bases have either been declining or growing at a <br />dramatically reduced rate. Between Payable 1986 and Payable <br />1987, assessed values dropped in one out of every four Minnesota <br />cities. over the 1983-1987 period, cities gained taxable <br />wealth an average 5.3 percent per year, less than half the 12.6 <br />percent annual rate of growth for the 1978-1983 period. <br />This year may be a critical one for changes in our property tax <br />structure. I urge you to use this report in CONTACTING YOUR STATE <br />LEGISLATORS about this issue. Stress that cities have been <br />responsible and accountable in their spending decisions. Also <br />stress that federal and state aid have been declining, not <br />increasing, in recent years causing cities to rely more heavily on <br />property taxes. <br />