Growing up on Rice Street, I learned at an early age that it is shameful to overpay. As the saying goes, “a fool and his money are soon parted.” We learned it is wasteful and foolish to pay more than one should.
Perhaps it is the Ricestreeter in all of us that makes steam come out of our ears when Minnesotans get taken to the cleaners by those who are not perturbed at overpayments made with the taxpayers’ checkbook.
From the opening day of his first session, Governor Dayton made it clear that building a Vikings stadium was one of his top priorities. The governor assumed that the owners would simply offer terms and the legislature would agree to overpay. However, the Wilfs were asking taxpayers for a sweetheart deal that would cost Minnesota taxpayers around a half-billion dollars. How is it that billionaire Vikings owner Zygy Wilf was able to negotiate such a great deal when compared to other recently completed stadium agreements around the country?
Wearing a No. 12 Vikings jersey, Governor Dayton railed against the Legislature and berated Republicans for not having agreed with the Vikings owner. Consider this: If you are a team owner in the middle of negotiations for a new stadium and the governor with whom you are negotiating appears at a press conference wearing your team’s jersey, might it be a clue that you have the upper hand in the negotiations?
The governor got his stadium. At a cost of $975 million, our stadium was to be publicly financed by iPad video games distributed to VFWs and bars. Unsurprisingly, that has generated barely 1 percent of the initial projections. Minnesota smokers were then stuck with the tab to help overpay for “the people’s stadium” with higher cigarette taxes. Tickets for a family of four will be $200-$1,600 per game with seat licenses costing an average of $2,600. So much for the people’s stadium.
After the fact it became known that the state had given up naming rights, luxury suite revenue and seat licenses, the governor was shocked to learn that the taxpayers got a raw deal. Fast forward.
This year, when it came to ordering up a new office building for the Senate, the spenders ripped a blank check out of the taxpayers’ checkbook and said, “Go build an office building!” In the closing days of the 2013 legislative session, a provision was stuck into the tax bill to build an office building for senators. This bill was pushed through and signed by the governor without a single vote from a House Republican or a single House committee hearing for the public to weigh in.
While the Legislature was out of session, the project was turned over to a committee. That committee was given an unlimited budget. Unsurprisingly, they exceeded it. The decision was made to house 44 out of Minnesota’s 67 senators in this new building. The price tag came in at more than $1.5 million per office. Our Capitol, which is also being renovated, is slated to undergo a nearly quarter-billion-dollar restoration which will, when complete, comfortably house the 23 senators who evidently don’t want to be in the new building.
When the public learned about the $90 million Senate complex with its beautiful reflecting pools and the convenient new tunnel-connected parking for senators, Rice Street steam started coming out of everyone’s ears.
Governor Dayton is once again shocked! However, it was the governor who signed the bill authorizing it and oversaw the work by the Capitol restoration commission to develop plans for the new building. The governor’s own department of administration has requested bids and established budgets and schedules for every aspect of this project.
It’s time to take responsibility for the decisions that have led to wasteful spending and missed opportunities. Minnesotans are struggling to recover from the worst economic downturn in 80 years. We can no longer afford to overpay.
Senator Chamberlain and I have authored a full repeal of the Senate office building and hope to gain bipartisan support.
Rep. Matt Dean represents District 38B.