Mankato Free Press
By Mark Fischenich
Mankato-North Mankato will remain an official metropolitan area for at least another decade, federal officials announced Tuesday.
A proposal from early this year threatened to strip Mankato and 143 other smaller cities of their status as “metropolitan statistical areas,” something local leaders said could have cost Mankato hundreds of thousands of federal dollars used for anti-poverty programs, potentially affected infrastructure funding and undermined economic development opportunities.
A Standards Review Committee, made up of members of several federal agencies, recommended in January that the Office of Management and Budget boost the population threshold for metro areas from the current 50,000 to 100,000 to reflect overall population growth in the United States. The OMB took public comment on the proposal and also heard from federal lawmakers representing the 144 affected cities
On Tuesday, the OMB revealed that it has decided to not accept the committee’s recommendation and would retain the 50,000-population threshold at least until the 2030 census.
“In short, this is excellent news, not just for Mankato but for cities all over,” Mankato City Manager Susan Arntz said.
If Mankato-North Mankato had reverted back to the status of a “micropolitan statistical area” that it held prior to 2008, it would have lost automatic access to about $400,000 annually from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that supports homeless shelters, affordable housing and other programs for the poor. Instead, Mankato — with its large and experienced municipal staff — would have been placed in competition against much smaller cities and towns in applying for a pool of grant funds set aside for micropolitan areas.
“So this is great news not just for us but for them as well,” Arntz said.
Had the change gone forward, Mankato would have become the largest of 18 Minnesota cities in the micropolitan category, which includes towns as small as Fairmont, Worthington, New Ulm and Marshall.
In addition to the repercussions involving federal aid, status as a metropolitan area puts a city in the running for new stores, restaurants and other businesses, according to Jessica Beyer, CEO and president of Greater Mankato Growth, which serves as the local chamber of commerce and the regional economic development organization.
National chain stores and restaurants, manufacturers and other businesses often focus on the raft of community data available on the 392 metropolitan areas when exploring new markets.
As a micropolitan area, Mankato-North Mankato would no longer have been included in the databases those businesses rely on, Beyer said.
South-central Minnesota rallied behind the effort to influence the OMB decision with more than 50 comments submitted to the agency by commercial businesses, manufacturers and higher education institutions, she said. Representatives of cities and counties, along with state and federal elected leaders, also answered the call.
“It’s wonderful to see the participation and how the region comes together — not just North Mankato-Mankato but the region,” Beyer said. “... I’m just incredibly proud of our community.”
Minnesota didn’t have as many metro areas threatened by the proposed changes as some states. Wisconsin, for instance, had five.
Nonetheless, Minnesota’s congressional delegation wrote letters to the OMB on behalf of Mankato and East Grand Forks, which is part of an MSA centered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Local leaders singled out Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and Republican Congressman Jim Hagedorn for their efforts.
Still, there was mathematical logic to the proposed change. The 50,000-population threshold for metro areas was established 70 years ago, and the federal panel argued that a new standard of 100,000 would be more appropriate considering the national population had doubled since 1950.
Klobuchar, though, said much of that growth nationally has been concentrated in major cities and suburban areas.
“That still leaves towns like Mankato as significant regional centers that should still be considered as that,” she said.
In rural areas, even a city of less than 100,000 can serve an important role as a regional hub and have unique challenges and responsibilities that come with that role.
“To me, there’s a big difference between Mankato and a small town,” Klobuchar said.
Mankato-North Mankato first reached the 50,000 mark in 2008. Although the metro area officially includes all of Blue Earth and Nicollet counties and now has a population of more than 100,000 people, the federal threshold is applied only to the core urbanized area of an MSA. In the local case, that means Mankato, North Mankato, Eagle Lake, Skyline and adjoining townships. The population of that core area totals 59,793 — well below the proposed new standard of 100,000.
In fact, under current growth rates, Mankato-North Mankato wouldn’t have reached 100,000 in the core area until the 2070 census.
While the announcement was hailed by local and statewide leaders, the issue might not be going away for long. “Recognizing the committee’s concern that MSA thresholds have not kept pace with population growth,” a new population threshold for metro areas will continue to be considered leading up to the 2030 census, the OMB wrote in the final sentence of its announcement.
That was not unexpected, according to Arntz.
“This is a topic that’s continued to come up every census,” she said. “So it doesn’t surprise us that it keeps coming up and that there’s that asterisk ... .”
Klobuchar said she isn’t worrying about OMB continuing to explore the change. With countless issues facing the federal government, she’s hopeful the topic won’t be revived anytime soon and that Tuesday’s decision sticks.
“I would call it a victory,” she said.