Minnesota Senator John Jasinski (R-Faribault) this week moved to drive more funding to improvement projects in small cities and townships across Minnesota. 

“Safe, reliable roads are one of those things you don’t truly appreciate until you don’t have them,” said Sen. Jasinski. “Folks in Greater Minnesota know this firsthand. Too often, the lack of reliable roads makes it much more difficult for township residents to participate in our 21st Century economy, let alone thrive. “

“Directing a set portion of revenue to roads in small cities and townships will make life much, much easier for those residents,” continued Sen. Jasinski. “Small cities and townships may not have the same bully pulpit as Minneapolis and St. Paul or command the same attention that big cities can, but they still deserve guaranteed support for their road projects.”

In 2017, Senate Republicans won a major victory for Minnesota roads and bridges by redirecting a portion of revenue from the auto parts sales tax to road and bridge projects. The Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday approved Senate File 625, which would increase to 60% the portion of proceeds that go to transportation projects. Senator Jasinski successfully added an amendment to that bill that would dedicate 3% of that additional revenue to road projects in small cities and an additional 3% to road projects in townships.

Senator Jasinski’s amendment creates a new Township Road Improvement Account to hold the small city and township portion of the tax revenue. Projects will be selected based on a number of factors, including:

• The availability of other funding
• The effectiveness of the project
• The number of people positively impacted
• The project’s contribution to economic development efforts locally, regionally, and statewide
• The ability for the town to provide maintenance