By Rep. Paul Anderson
A series of radon-awareness town hall meeting will be held in the district this week and next. The first is scheduled for the Glenwood Senior Center at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov.21. Next week, on Tuesday, Nov.26, meetings will be held in Melrose and Sauk Centre. The Melrose meeting takes place at the city office and starts at 11:30 a.m., while the meeting in Sauk Centre will be later than same day, at 4:30 p.m., also at the city offices.
According to officials from the Minnesota Dept. of Health, radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers in this country. Approximately 21,000 deaths each year are attributed to radon in the United States. It’s estimated around 40 percent of Minnesota homes have levels of radon that are worrisome, and health officials encourage all homeowners to test their place of residence.
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and it’s a good time to test homes for the dangerous gas that occurs naturally in the environment. Personnel from the Dept. of Health, along with folks from the local Public Health offices, will be on hand to answer questions and hand out free radon test kits. I encourage all residents of the area to attend one of the meetings and learn about the dangers of high levels of radon in homes and how to mitigate the gas if levels are determined to be high.
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A recent announcement by the Minnesota Dept. of Revenue caused some head-scratching. After compiling data from preliminary levy amounts set by local units of government, it appears that property taxes will increase by over 1 percent next year. That contradicts an earlier announcement predicting property taxes would actually decrease. The reason for the optimistic earlier figure was that increases in local government aid (LGA) would allow for lower property taxes. Although final levies will be set in December and they could be lowered from their September levels, it appears that property taxes on a statewide basis will not decrease.
A breakdown of the numbers shows that cities raised their preliminary levies by 2.1 percent, counties by 1.5 percent, townships by 2.1 percent, and schools by 2.6 percent. It was back in July that Gov. Dayton said that property taxes next year would reverse a long-term trend and actually decrease by 1.5 percent. Many were skeptical of that prediction because it’s up to local officials to determine their levies, and they could choose to spend their additional state aid instead of lowering taxes.
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A constituent raised a concern about Minnesota moving to a 10-percent level of biodiesel during summer months. An announcement from the Dept. of Agriculture said that conditions allowing the increase have been met, and Minnesota will move to that level next July. The concern raised had to do with a certain car manufacturer voiding its warranty on diesel engines with biofuel levels higher than 5 percent. I checked with officials at the department and was told that, according to federal law, a manufacturer cannot void its warranty for the higher blend of bio because it is an “approved fuel” according to the EPA. Other states, Illinois for example, currently offer incentives for diesel fuel with blends of 11 percent or higher, and warranty coverage was not voided.
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