The top goal for state lawmakers in 2015 is to craft a budget for the next two years. For this cycle, Minnesota is expected to see a projected $1 billion surplus, which means this amount will need to be allocated in some fashion before we adjourn for the year. As part of the process, the governor, the House and the Senate will each craft their own budget proposal.
Recently Governor Dayton was first out of the gate with his budget plan and it is heavy on spending. The governor wants to take our surplus and spend it in a variety of ways.
The bulk of his expenditures would be in education; the most notable provision is $109 million to send four-year-olds with preschool. There’s also $93 million more for higher education, $140 million in new funding for health and human services programs, and $100 million for a child care tax credit that would be utilized by working families who send their kids to daycare. Overall, the governor wants to spend $42 billion on government programs over the next two years. That is nearly $3 billion more than our last budget, and is a spending increase of roughly seven percent.
At some point, lawmakers on all sides need to recognize that this level of spending in state government is clearly unsustainable. To believe that incoming revenue will continue to keep up that pace is short sighted in my opinion, especially when you consider that most working families are not receiving seven percent raises to their household income every year.
That’s not to say the programs Governor Dayton is targeting for new spending don’t have merit. But I’d be happier if we began focusing on efficiency within the programs on which we’re already spending $39 billion as opposed to finding new, permanent ways to spend your money.
The House and Senate budget proposals will be unveiled in the coming weeks, most likely after the February fiscal forecast is announced. This way we will have a more updated budget surplus amount and can proceed accordingly.
Regardless of that final number, I think it’s safe to expect that the Minnesota House plan will come in below Governor Dayton’s $42 billion idea.