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State Representative Michael Paymar
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4199
For more information contact: Michael Howard 651-296-8873
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GOP Budget Plan is Political, Cynical and Worse for our State
A troubling theme has emerged at the State Legislature as Republicans are starting to show Minnesotans their “plan" to balance the budget. Systematically, Republicans are picking winners and losers by targeting massive cuts to Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and the Iron Range. This is a sampling of some of the ways Republicans are trying to balance the budget without (as they claim) raising new revenue.
TAXES
The Republican tax proposal phases out and then eliminates Local Government Aid (LGA) in 2014 to three of the four “first class” cities – Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. While Rochester is a “first class” city, they will continue to get LGA. As a member of the Tax Committee, I pressed Representative Linda Runbeck, Chair of the Property Tax Division on the policy objectives of phasing out St. Paul, while Circle Pines (her hometown in the suburbs) will continue to get LGA. Her response was, “Circle Pines was more stable” and “Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth were dependent on LGA.” LGA makes up 27% of St. Paul’s General Fund. Slashing LGA will result in huge property tax increases and cuts to police, fire, libraries and public works.
EDUCATION
In the education bill, Republicans are eliminating Integration Aid for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. They also cut special education funding further punishing inner city schools. The total reduction in the St. Paul School District will be $26 million, $23 million in Minneapolis, and $1.8 million in Duluth. Representative Pat Garofalo, chair of the Education Finance Committee justified the cut by stating, “We’ve been spending this money for a long time, and Minnesota has one of the worst achievement gaps in the country.” So rather than propose solutions, he simply cuts Integration Aid and starts us down the path of school vouchers.
TRANSPORTATION
The Republicans in the Transportation Committee were set to raid $69 million in metro county sales taxes to meet their transportation target. Representative Michael Beard, Chair of the Transportation Committee stated “In the dire situation we find ourselves, this is an avenue we need to explore.” The Republicans have abandoned this strategy for the time being. However, their transportation budget now translates into a $65 million reduction to metro transit resulting in huge fare increases and massive service cuts.
JOBS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
I quizzed Representative Bob Gunther, Chair of the Jobs and Economic Development Committee as to why he was eliminating $60 million from the Economic Protection Trust Fund for the Iron Range. Created in 1977, this fund uses the Taconite Production Tax in lieu of property taxes to help diversify the boom and bust economic cycles of that area. Representative Gunther sadly stated, “The leadership of my Caucus told me that this was what we are going to do.”
The four areas that are cut disproportionately throughout the GOP budgets are the Iron Range, Duluth, St. Paul, and Minneapolis. In these legislative districts, there are 41 Democrats and 1 Republican. Targeting districts or geographical areas based on who represents them is the kind of brazen politics that makes people cynical about politics and politicians. Finding a solution to our $5 billion deficit will not be easy. The Republican Party that controls both bodies in the Legislature must put serious proposals on the table that balances the budget in a fair and equitable manner.
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