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I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />i <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br /> The initial local government aid law was enacted in 1971. <br />Minn. Stat. ch. 477A (1971). The concept of the program is quite <br />simple. General state revenues are distributed to local government <br />units -- counties, cities, and towns -- for use as general operating <br />revenues or for capital improvements. The purpose is to reduce the <br />reliance on locally-imposed property taxes. Act of June 14, 1983, <br />ch. 342, art. 5, § 14, 1983 Minn. Laws 2263. <br /> The central issue of this lawsuit -- how to allocate the <br />state funds among the cities -- has been hotly contested since the <br />inception of the program.~/ Indeed, the distribution formula has <br />been amended legislatively each biennium since 1971. Under each <br />version of the formula some cities inevitably fared better than <br />others. Just as inevitably, some cities that received less aid have <br />charged that the formula treated them inequitably. The normal <br />avenue for expression of this dissatisfaction has been the <br />legislative process. Many cities have appeared before the <br />legislature, either through their elected officials or through <br />lobbying groups, to advocate changes in the formula. <br /> <br />l/ <br /> <br />Defendants do not understand plaintiffs to be challenging the <br />method by which county governments are allocated their share of <br />local government aid. Furthermore, the method for <br />apportionment of aid to towns would only be relevant to the <br />extent that it coincided with the formula applicable to cities. <br />Accordingly, defendants discuss the local government aid <br />formula only in the context of its application to cities. <br /> <br />-2- <br /> <br /> <br />