Minnesota’s Daily Columnist
HowieHanson.com Section
Duluth residents should not accept a budget narrative built only around the bad news. Transparency requires more than explaining the size of the shortfall. It requires identifying every option, every revenue decision and every pool of existing or reasonably anticipated financial capacity.
Early-term labor agreements, sluggish revenue growth and familiar levy politics have left City Hall confronting a projected $5.5 million deficit.
The city estimates its recently negotiated labor agreements will increase personnel costs by approximately $9.9 million over three years, according to the 2026 city budget. There is your deficit, dressed in a collective bargaining agreement and scheduled to arrive on time.
Houston uses an emergency telehealth program that allows selected 911 patients to speak remotely with a physician. In one reported year, 92% of the 6,008 people served by the program were directed to transportation other than a Houston Fire Department ambulance.
The city cannot eliminate a multimillion-dollar structural deficit without confronting employee costs, service levels or taxes. That is where the money is — and where the difficult decisions will be.
The city's response should not be measured by the words spoken at a news conference but measured in the weeks and months ahead by successful investigations, accountability for those responsible, thoughtful prevention efforts and a renewed sense of confidence among the people who call Duluth home.
The strategy emphasizes expanding housing opportunities, improving public spaces, activating downtown streets, supporting business growth and making development more predictable for investors.