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State Representative Kelby Woodard
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7065
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GUEST COLUMN
New efficiencies key in budget solution
By Rep. Kelby Woodard
As the dust settles on the budget agreement passed during the special session this week, I want to pass along my perspective on what the budget deal means to Minnesotans.
The most important things we accomplished include reducing the trajectory of spending growth and enacting reform that allows our government to operate more efficiently and maximizes the effectiveness of our tax dollars. Our final general fund budget of $34 billion is far more sustainable than the $39 billion in projected spending for this biennium. There are one-time increases in spending paid for by one-time revenues (60/40 education shift and tobacco bonds) that were reluctantly agreed to in the final deal as well.
Some of the most significant reforms comes in the health and human services area of the budget. This area was set for a 22-percent increase, but reforms allow us to pare this back to a more reasonable 4.8-percent increase in the next biennium. This is estimated to save Minnesotans $13 billion over the next decade while being responsive to the needs of our most vulnerable. We also repealed the "sick tax" and passed reform measures to reduce welfare fraud pertaining to EBT cards (including denying the ability to purchase alcohol and tobacco).
This budget agreement is not perfect, but it was important for us to put an end to our state shutdown. I am disappointed we enacted a K-12 education funding shift, but that was necessary for us to meet the governor's demands in reaching a compromise. We did lessen the shift from what the governor had proposed and passed an extra $50 per pupil in the funding formula to alleviate any immediate effects on our schools budgets. We also created greater equity in the funding formula for school districts which is significant for schools which traditionally have been treated unfairly in the formula compared with the big cities.
There still are many ideas to explore that have the potential to provide our state with a more stable fiscal future. The governor was very receptive to reforming the status quo when we had the opportunity to discuss these concepts with him. I look forward to pursuing even more reform to that end in the upcoming 2012 session.
I appreciate all the support and ideas I received from folks throughout the district during the regular session and as we worked to put a final budget in place. I will be scheduling town halls and open office hours in the coming weeks to answer your questions and provide an overview of the 2011 session.
News Items
- Woodard prioritizes school funding - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 2:43PM)
- Forecast reveals results, challenges - (Posted: 2012-12-06 00:00:00)
- Woodard bill to fix sex offender appeal glitch signed in to law - (Posted: 2012-04-23 00:00:00)
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