In reply to Paul Udstrand.

I kicked my research into high gear and would just like to point out that the numbers you keep referencing for SLP (4-5x cheaper per capita) come from the budget overview here: http://www.stlouispark.org/webfiles/file/finance/2014_budget_report.pdf but the ~$30.5m total expenditures you cite misses a whole lot of other city expenses.

Look at page 30 of this document http://www.stlouispark.org/webfiles/file/finance/slp_-_final_issued_cafr_5-29-15.pdf

add the "Governmental Activities" and "Business-type Activities" for 2014 and you get $82m for 2014 expenses, or $1,710 per capita, making Minneapolis (which includes both government and business/enterprise expenses in the number you cite) only 1.75x SLP per capita.