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State Representative Tim Faust
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0518
For more information contact: Michael Howard 651-296-8873
NEWS COLUMN
Balanced Transportation Bill Right Choice for Minnesota
In the Minnesota House and Senate this week, with bipartisan support, we passed an important comprehensive transportation funding package into law. This bill truly represents a solution built through a bipartisan discussions and compromise. It was supported by hundreds of groups, including the Coalition of Greater MN Cities, MN Farm Bureau and MN Farmers Union, every Labor organization, and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
A main reason for the wide coalition of support, and the reason I supported the bill, is the balanced, fiscally responsible approach taken. It delivers safer road and bridge conditions in every county in the state, creates jobs and stimulates economic development, and reduce property taxes. Many of the Governor’s ideas for transportation funding are included in the package and the Legislature removed many provisions in the name of compromise.
The transportation bill will invest $6.6 billion into our roads and bridges over the next ten years. In addition it will ensure bridge repairs and replacement are not delayed. Six-hundred million dollars is provided in the first two years to fix 13 fracture-critical trunk highway bridges, many of which have lesser ratings than the collapsed I-35W Bridge. The three counties I represent will receive over $26 million over the next ten years for roads and bridges.
By fixing our roads and bridges, we can also stimulate our struggling economy where the construction sector has been hit the hardest. I have spoke with several construction workers who spent the fall and winter unemployed because there simply weren’t any construction jobs. This transportation package will change that, creating an estimated 33,000 jobs per year over the next five years, many of them in our area.
By passing this bill, we will also pass along property tax savings to Minnesotans, especially in rural areas. Reduction in state funding for transportation has left cities and counties with no choice but to raise property taxes to pay for local road repairs and projects. As a result, property taxes are now the single largest funder of our roads and bridges in Minnesota, with over $800 million in property tax dollars funding local projects last year. By providing increased state resources to counties and cities for transportation projects, this bill will lessen the property tax burden being carried by local home and business owners.
Our transportation proposal will be funded with a nickel-per-gallon gas tax increase to be phased in by mid-September and would increase 2 ½ additional cents in coming years to repay state borrowing. With fuel prices already high, it not an easy decision to raise the gas tax. But it is important to note that our state constitution demands that 100% of gas tax revenue go directly toward roads and bridges and that it hasn’t been increased in twenty years. No gas tax revenue can ever go towards transit, but there is a ¼ cent for metro sales tax for only metro counties that will fund mass transit options in the metro area. Most importantly, the vast needs of roads and bridges and our increasing debt due to borrowing means our transportation problems will only grow larger if we don’t take responsible action now.
Due to previous legislative inaction, we have increasingly used borrowing to patchwork our mounting transportation needs. As a result, our state debt on transportation has increased over 650% in just the last five years. The transportation bill we passed is "pay-as-you-go", this way we don’t saddle our state with billions of dollars of debt.
Most people realize we need to do something to maintain and fix our roads and bridges. My grandfather's generation paid to build our state highways system and my father's generation paid to build our U.S. interstate system. Until now, my generation hasn’t paid to maintain what my grandfather and father built, and I don’t think that is right. Building consensus on this comprehensive transportation plan is the responsible choice Minnesota needs to move our state forward on transportation.
News Items
- Kyle Herman Bill Signed into Law - (Posted: 2010-04-28 00:00:00)
- To Students, Teachers, and Parents: Have a great year - (Posted: 2009-09-14 00:00:00)
- LEGISLATIVE SESSION CONCLUDES - (Posted: 2009-05-19 00:00:00)
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