State Representative
Mark Buesgens

MET COUNCIL HARMFUL TO SCOTT COUNTY;

NEW OVERSIGHT COMMISSION WILL HELP

By State Representative Mark Buesgens

During my first three years serving the taxpayers of Scott County in the Minnesota House of Representatives, putting a lid on the unelected Metropolitan Council has been one of the main initiatives that I've pursued on your behalf. I've been a constant thorn in the side of those who promote the Met Council because many people living in our county -- the fastest-growing county in Minnesota -- believe that the Met Council's so-called "Smart Growth" and "New Urbanism" initiatives are extreme, expensive and unnecessary anti-suburban programs. Let me explain why.

WHAT IS THE MET COUNCIL?

To understand why the Met Council is harmful to Scott County and other growing suburban counties in the Twin Cities area, first you need to know what the Council does everyday.

The Met Council was established in the late 1960's as a planning resource whose purpose was to advise local cities and townships in the Twin Cities area on how to plan and manage growth in their individual communities. By the mid-1990's, the Council shifted from an advisory organization to a large government bureaucracy when it was assigned major operation responsibilities of mass transit and waste disposal, as well as housing and redevelopment activities and regional planning. This largely occurred through a combination of creative interpretations of its own powers and DFL-controlled Legislatures' willingness to increase the Council's jurisdiction.

With extreme arrogance, the Council started to impose its idea of what communities should look like upon locally elected officials. Met Council members were not accountable to concerned and angry local taxpayers in the ballot booth because they were appointed by the governor, not elected. And because the Met Council was structured in a manner that does not require oversight and approval of its budget by the Legislature, accountability and evaluation of the Council's operations were obscure and difficult to track.

These actions and the Met Council's "we know better than you do" attitude are still alive and well today.

THE MET COUNCIL'S DAMAGE

Once considered one of the most affordable metropolitan regions in the nation, the Twin Cities area has seen its affordability plummet over the past five years as land and home prices -- and the property tax burden borne on them -- have sky-rocketed. "Smart Growth" policies pushed by the Met Council, which artificially limit the amount of developable land in our communities in spite of the marketplace, are the largest contributor to this problem.

It doesn't take an economics wizard to figure out that policies geared towards restricting the amount of developable land, coupled with an increase in demand brought about by a population explosion in the second and third-ring Twin Cities suburbs, will result in substantial land and housing price increases. It's simple supply and demand.

And speaking of housing, instead of living in a nice single-family home with a big backyard for your kids to play in, how would you like living in state-mandated high-density, multi-family housing? The Met Council promotes and is even developing housing designed to cram as many people as possible into small parcels of land, similar to housing in older inner cities. If the Met Council gets their way, that exactly what's on its way to Scott County.

Of course, we can't forget that the Met Council also is the organization that is spending your tax dollars to build an expensive light rail trolley car line down Hiawatha Avenue instead of relieving congestion by building new roads or expanding existing ones. How this is going to help folks stuck in traffic commuting to and from Scott County is beyond me. If you think traffic is a mess and that our taxes are way too high today, just wait until the smart growth transportation agenda is fully enacted. The congestion and drain from our pocketbooks for ineffective, experimental solutions will be staggering.

It's as if the Met Council's liberal leader, Ted Mondale, is so upset that people are moving out of Minneapolis and St. Paul to the better life in Scott County that he'll do anything to make life miserable for us.

NEW OVERSIGHT COMMISSION WILL HELP

This past session, House Republicans prevailed in our effort to establish a Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Government which will at least provide oversight of the Met Council's budgets and programs, allowing us to keep a closer eye on their activities. Unfortunately, the Commission does not have final approval authority over the Council's spending and programs as originally envisioned. Rest assured, implementing that extra accountability provision will be on my agenda for the coming session.

Nevertheless, this commission will, in my view, finally shine a bright light on the Met Council's anti- suburban policies, as well as the tactics that they employ when attempting to ram these policies down the throats of our locally elected officials. Further, the commission will be just the first step to what locally elected officials throughout the Twin Cities suburbs, including the Prior Lake City Council, are advocating -- the complete elimination of the obsolete and ineffective agency that the Met Council has become. Only then will the common-sense people of Scott County be free to plan the future of our communities without being under the dictatorial and penalizing mentality of an unelected, unaccountable regional government.

Buesgens, R-35B, is chairman of the Minnesota House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Metropolitan Council. Representing the taxpayers of Jordan, Shakopee, Prior Lake, and Jackson, Louisville, Sand Creek and Spring Lake Townships, Buesgens twice has authored legislation to eliminate the Met Council. His latest bill has passed to the House floor, where it will be debated when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

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