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. "Could use all just agree to reduce our wages a little bit to cover our deficit?v We- could. We estimate that if every city employee reduced their wages and salary by 10% that would cover our projected deficit. If this were a short -term problem, 1 would recommend considering that. However, I don't think this is a short - -term situation. And unless every employer did the same thing in reducing their employees' wages 10% - which is not happening - then some, perhaps many, of our employees will go elsewhere where they can earn a market pay rate. If we are looking at a long-term situation, as I believe we are, I suggest it is best to pay the right number of people fairly, rather than pay everyone a reduced amount. 6. "Why don "t you think this isJust a short -term situation? Won't the state a ve r p ro vide state aid to Roseville again P 1 don't know RR at this point no one knows for certain but it sure doesn't look like it. Let me explain. I expect the state legislature will let Minneapolis and St. Paul keep some of their state aid. This is because they are large cities that have statewide significance and because the state legislature has given there many tens of millions of dollars ire state aid for many gears. (Minneapolis and St. Paul receive much more state aid per resident than Roseville does.) Minneapolis and St. Paul have come to rely upon state aid for a large part of their operating budget. I think Minneapolis and St. Paul will lose lots of state aid but not all of it. I also expect the state legislature will authorize some state aid to hundreds of rural communities in Minnesota. This is because, being small towns in rural areas, they may lack a solid ta. x base of their own and consequently they, too, have become very dependent on large amounts of state aid over the years. For those reasons rural cities may continue to receive some reduced amount of state aid to provide essential city services. Roseville and a few other suburbs, on the other hand, have solid tax bases and have not historically received huge amounts of state aid from the state legislature. There is talk in the legislature about } changing the formula by which state aid is provided to cities. But I. seriously doubt Roseville will see this kind of general purpose state aid again under any needs -based funding ormula. Remember: the g P State has a 4 billion deficit it needs to address. Reducing state 2id 2