Minnesota.

Mayor Don Fraser of Minneapolis last week proposed a $238 million general fund budget for fiscal 1992, which begins Jan. 1. That would mark a $6 million increase in spending over fiscal 1991.

The proposed budget includes $39.4 million of general obligation bond sales for building improvements, flood control, street repaving, and downtown parking ramp restoration, according to city documents.

State aid for the city is expected to decline about $800,000 next fiscal year, to $59.4 million from $60.2 million this fiscal year, budget documents show.

That relatively small decline compares to the $6 million of expected state aid cut from the city's budget during fiscal 1991, when state officials were grappling with a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall for the two-year budget cycle that began July 1.

The major's budget also proposes increasing the fiscal 1992 general fund ending balance to $19.2 million from $18.7 million in the current fiscal year, according to budget documents.

City council hearings on the budget are scheduled to begin in September. Under state law, a budget must be approved by Dec. 20 so the city's property tax levy can be set, city officials said.

Standard & Poor's Corp. rates approximately $385 million of the city's outstanding general obligation debt AAA. Moody's Investors Services rates the city's outstanding general obligation debt Aaa.

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