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State Representative David Dill
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2190
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
NEWS COLUMN
Lack of bipartisan support for increased LGA disappointing
Today in the House we had the chance to fix a problem that has hurt our towns and cities for several years. An amendment to the 2005 House Tax Omnibus Bill was offered that would have provided thousands of dollars in additional Local Government Aid (LGA)/property tax relief, restoring some of the cuts that were made previously by the Administration. It would also have reversed the Taconite Off-Set measure, restoring massive state aid cuts to cities in our iron-mining region. Unfortunately, the amendment failed along party lines, on a 67-67 tie vote.
I strongly supported the amendment offered by Rep. Paul Marquart as I believe it would have made a real difference for our cities. Babbitt aid would have increased by $197,554 and Silver Bay's by $105,087. Ely would have seen an increase of $73,612 and Two Harbors by $44,580. Orr LGA would have risen by $8, 425, Cook by $5,086, Tower by $4,245 and Winton by $12, 724. This money would have gone a long way toward restoring some economic stability to the budgets of these towns.
The rise in property taxes that we are experiencing makes this increase in LGA/property tax relief more important than ever. These funds were cut by over $300 million by this administration. This amendment would have restored less than one-fourth of that. If this proposal had received just one more vote, our towns and cities would have some property tax relief to look forward to instead of just property taxes increases. Communities are now being forced to make cuts or increase local property taxes to pay for local police and fire departments, essential services, street improvements and more.
The Taconite Off-set provision passed as part of the 2003 Tax Bill and takes $1 of LGA for every $1 of taconite aid a city in the Taconite Relief Area receives. This legislation targeted our area of the state at a time when many wealthy suburbs saw little or no loss of state aid. Reversal of the taconite off-set is critical to taconite cities and their ability to provide services without raising property taxes. Today's amendment was another attempt to remove this cut, and again, it failed.
Combined, these two measures are stretching our cities' budgets to the max, resulting not only in increased property taxes and fees but elimination of services. As session nears a close the hope of reversing the LGA cuts and the Taconite Off-Set provision are dimming.
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