Plenty of Minneapolis property taxpayers -- many seniors among them -- cheered in November when a district court judge agreed with Mayor R.T. Rybak and a unanimous City Council that two closed city pension funds were overcharging the city. The ruling cut the rate of increase in property taxes payable this year from 11.3 percent to 7.3 percent.

Now some of the seniors on the losing end of that decision are striking back, with a missive that takes dead aim at Rybak's ambition to succeed Gov. Tim Pawlenty. In a letter to likely DFL delegates throughout the state, widows of five Minneapolis firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty blasted Rybak's role in the court-ordered reduction in their monthly pension payments. They urged DFL precinct caucus attendees next week to support "a true DFLer -- someone other than Rybak."

The letter's disclaimer described it as an independent expenditure, not done on behalf of any candidate, by the political action committees of two closed pension funds at issue in the legal decision, the Minneapolis Police Relief Association and the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association. Both were closed to new enrollees in 1980. The state auditor alerted the city several years ago that the formula used by those funds to determine pension payouts was out of line with other public pensions, and unduly generous. On Nov. 20, Judge Janet Poston agreed, and ordered the two funds to reduce their claim on the city in 2010 and beyond.

Rybak said Monday that he considers the five widows who signed the letter "heroes in our city," deserving of pension support. "We've delivered, and we'll keep doing that," he said of that commitment.

But a mayor must balance those widows' claim on the city's treasury with the interests of taxpayers, some of them also widows on fixed incomes, who "deserve not to pay higher property taxes than necessary," he said. Balancing public needs and means is precisely the work politicians are elected to do. Hard times make that work more difficult than ever -- but also more important. With Minneapolis property taxes already the highest in the state, and more cuts in state aid to cities on the horizon, I'd say Rybak got this balancing act right.