Proposals That Fail to Put Minnesotans First
By Senator Jason Rarick

As I’m sure many have heard, the Governor has released both his bonding and budget proposals for Minnesota. Though I don’t want to be negative, given the state of our budget, I have to admit I found both to be troubling.

In terms of budget proposals, usually we’ll get Governor Walz’s first, and then the Senate and House will work to come up with proposals, and then we can compare them all and come to one agreement. As a reminder of where we stand, we had a nearly-$19 billion surplus just a few short years ago, and now we’re looking at a $5.1 billion deficit on the horizon. I do believe we’re in this position because the spending in recent years has gotten out of hand, and funds have not been allocated in a way that promotes our economy to grow. We are just not seeing any returns coming from that. Because of this, I have two main issues with the Governor’s proposal.

First, our counties are going to incur additional costs because of cuts being made. Due to the cuts he wants to make in the areas of Health and Human Services, that means counties will be forced to bear the brunt of additional costs to cover certain services. In fact, I’ve heard from a couple counties that the projected cuts equate to about 25% of their current budgets, with no way to absorb that cost without huge tax increases locally. This puts our counties in a tough situation where property taxpayers are going to be forced to pay more. In a time where many find life unaffordable, this is not a viable solution.

A second concern I have comes in the area of proposed education funding cuts. Governor Walz specifically mentioned decreasing services for non-public school families, while simultaneously proposing a funding increase to the Department of Education, despite the massive increases they already saw in the last biennium.

Again, our government grew by 40% in the last biennium, but Minnesotans certainly did not see 40% increases in their pocketbooks or banking accounts. So if we’re going to be looking at cuts, we need to look at agencies, rather than the services Minnesotans deserve and rely on.

Governor Walz’s $887 million bonding proposal was also problematic. Because we didn’t pass one last year, I’m in full support of a responsible bonding bill. But if we move forward with one, it has to be focused on infrastructure needs and not fluffy “wants.” I do take issue with the fact that despite our looming deficit, the Governor’s bonding proposal is close in dollar amount to what was proposed last year. If we pass a bonding bill, there’s no question in my mind – it must be hyper-focused on the needs that were brushed off last time. We have roads, bridges, dams, and water treatment facilities throughout Minnesota that are in desperate need. That is where we need to focus bonding efforts, and not on frivolous pet projects.

In every single thing we do this year, we have to be fiscally responsible – our finances demand it. I am concerned that the Governor’s proposals deviate from that goal. As session continues, I’m hopeful we can move forward in talks regarding proposals that make sense for our state. With that deficit not too far off on the horizon, it’s time we take a serious look at our funding and what we can do to ensure Minnesotans’ quality of life is not adversely affected by out-of-control government spending and expansion.