Municipal Welfare Debated in Minnesota

New Patriot Journal ^ | February 1, 2010 | Walter Scott Hudson

[Walter Scott Hudson]

BLOOMINGTON, MN – As President Obama delivered the State of the Union address in Washington, a gubernatorial debate took place in Minnesota hosted by the Minnesota News Council and the League of Women Voters. A clear dichotomy emerged surrounding the issue of local government aid (LGA), a state-level redistributive funding mechanism which could be characterized as municipal welfare.

WKBT, a local CBS affiliate, reports many Minnesota cities rely upon local government aid from the state to hold down property taxes and fund essential services like police and fire departments. In the gubernatorial debate, which was recorded Wednesday by the New Patriot Journal, local government aid was first evoked by State Representative Paul Thissen, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) candidate. Responding to a question regarding property taxes, Thissen stated he would like to see them replaced by state-level taxes, effectively institutionalizing local government aid as the primary municipal funding mechanism. Marty Seifert, Republican Minority Leader in the State House, countered with a call for restructuring local government aid to make it more needs-based. “We have four cities that get half the LGA. LGA was never intended to be the hammock that it is now for local government. It was intended to be an equalizer for very poor communities that didn’t have a property tax base.”

The issue later became heated between Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, DFL and State Representative Tom Emmer, GOP. (Note: this writer has served as a volunteer for Emmer for Governor.) Answering a question regarding how state government should respond to home foreclosures, Emmer said he would get the economy moving again by setting budget priorities. Emmer called out the City of Minneapolis, and thus Rybak, for laying off police officers while the City Council received a raise. Rybak fired back at his next opportunity, blaming Emmer and the state legislature for cutting local government aid and endangering essential services. When Emmer regained the floor, he called for restructuring government to eliminate redundancies and make Minnesota more competitive for business.

In an October interview on US Web Talk Radio, Minneapolis firefighter John Ackerman (speaking on his own behalf and not as a representative of the City of Minneapolis or the Minneapolis Fire Department) described how essential services were perpetually threatened by the city’s reliance on local government aid. At that time, according to Ackerman, layoffs in the fire department had been avoided only because the city provided temporary funding while waiting for a federal grant. “In two years’ time, unless anything changes, we’re still in the same boat. We don’t have dedicated funds,” Ackerman said, adding Minneapolis already lags behind national standards for firefighters per capita.

WKBT reports Winona Mayor Jerry Miller, Rybak, and other officials held a press conference Thursday to convey the importance of local government aid. “So far, we haven’t had to affect police or fire,” Miller was quoted, positioning himself and allied mayors against the state to secure funding.

[IronJack]

Carrion feeders fighting over the body. The only one with a legitimate claim to my money is ME. Does it really matter which jackal eats your bones?

[Seruzawa]

And like the rest of these ill managed cities their main expense is pensions.

[MNJohnnie]

We should eliminate all state aid to communities. All it does is create massive waste.

For example, why does every single Minnesota city have to have a massive "Community center" that simply creates a state funded competitor for local restaurant and hotel meeting rooms? Why do we build massive, architecturally complex schools? The notion that this is going to "Fund police and fire departments" is a myth.

This State aid just goes to pay political patronage slush funds that local politicians use to pay off their fat cat campaign contributors. If localities want these Civic white elephants, let them convince local taxpayers to fund them

[Redleg Duke]

Late, Great Uncle handled the welfare for Oconto County in Wisconsin. Welfare was a county function and the worst thing to say about a man was that "he was on the county".

I think that welfare should be a county or municiple function and only that. If a county or municipality can't afford to pay the welfare bill, then they need to get the lazy bastards off of their asses and working.

With it being a state or federal bureaucracy, fraud and abuse is rampant.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Minnesota’s Medical Scam for the “poor” is what is bankrupting the state. They keep raising taxes similar to Massachusetts and they get Federal subsidies to make the numbers look better to the public. Business is leaving this state in droves or closing their doors because they can’t afford to have workers, thanks to Minnesota’s legislature.

Thief River Falls, is taking “stimulus” money and building bike paths and deluxe paved “trails” all across town. This is supposed to inspire “healthy” behavior and activity you know. And, will create jobs (About 20 or so temporary jobs) and the city will hire 1 or 2 more tax paid (government) workers to take care of them.

[The Great RJ]

This has been tried in South Dakota instituted by a nominally Republican governor. In response to complaints about rising property taxes, the financing of schools was largely transferred to state aid with a cap put on property tax increases. The plan has been a dismal failure and the majority of school districts having to seek special opt out elections as state aid has never kept up with rising costs. It is far better to let local units of government decide what to tax and what to spend than leave it to state legislatures.

[WOBBLY BOB]

As you would expect, the bill is a $1 billion collection of ear marks, pork, and goodies for the DFL’s favorite constituencies.

Let’s revisit both the reasons why a debt-financed bill isn’t a good idea and the specific pork larded into the DFL versions of their respective bills.

First, the DFL makes the incredible claim that the bonding bill will “stimulate” the economy and put people to work. Please.

How has the Democrat stimulus bill out of the federal government worked out?
We remember when it was claimed that the stimulus bill would keep unemployment below
8%. The White House celebrated this week when unemployment dropped to 9.7%. Wow.

The DFL doesn’t understand that government spending doesn’t create jobs. The government merely takes money out of the private economy and re-circulates it far more
inefficiently than the markets ever would. Government money can temporarily put one man to work
digging a hole and another to fill it, but it can’t create a sustainable job.

Moreover, the DFL keeps braying on about low interest rates as a justification to enact a monstrous, $1 billion bonding bill. Cheap money isn’t free money.
The state
is facing an immediate $1.2 billion deficit and a $5 billion deficit in the
next
fiscal biennium. When you’re flat broke, even cheap money is out of reach.

Third, the bonding bill is financed by debt. It’s financed by the state
selling
debt on the open market just like Washington does. Haven’t we had enough of
this
credit-card mentality? Our children and grand children are handcuffed to a
mountain
of Chinese financed debt and we just keep digging and digging. Enough is
enough.

Finally, this may be a technical point but it has significant bearing on the
question
of “shovel ready” projects. The DFL crows about the need for an early
bonding bill
to put people to work. Putting aside all other arguments for a moment, it is
impossible
to get projects out the door that quickly.

Remember that a bonding bill doesn’t mean the state loads up a bag of money
and
walks out the door to hand it out. Bonds are financial instruments that are
sold
in the financial marketplace. They contracts, they are legal documents, and
they
are complex. In order to protect the state and ensure a smooth sale, a
complex “due
diligence” process is required to satisfy both the state and the marketplace
that
the bonds are what they purport to be. That process takes many weeks and
means that
even a bonding bill passed in February or March wouldn’t be ready for market
until
early summer.

So what kind of “critical” projects are included in the DFL proposals? Sit
down,
grab an emesis pouch and read on.

· American Indian Learning Resource Center ($6.7 million)

· Bike and hiking trails ($39 million)

· Minnesota Zoo ($32.5 million)

· Rochester volleyball center ($4 million)

· Springbrook Nature Center ($2 million)

· Wirth Park Winter Recreation ($1 million)

· Minneapolis Sculpture Garden ($2 million)

· Dakota County bicycle tunnel ($344,000)

· Old Cedar Avenue bicycle bridge ($2 million)

· Rock Island Park trail development ($1 million)

· Potter Center for the Arts ($7 million)

· African-American Cultural Center ($840,000)

· Mankato Civic Center ($14 million)

· Orchestra Hall ($17 million)

· Rochester Civic Center ($28 million)

· Saint Cloud Civic Center ($15 million)

· Ordway Center ($16 million)

· Asian-Pacific Cultural Center ($7 million)

· Oliver Kelly historic farm ($10 million)

· Moorehead sports complex ($4 million)

· Ice arenas ($2 million)

· Midtown Famers’ Market ($500,000)

· Como Zoo ($11 million)

· Chatfield Arts Center ($2.2 million)

· Arrowhead Sports Complex ($3 million)

· Saint Paul Saints stadium design ($250,000)

The DFL claims they understand the seriousness of the budget crisis. They’re actions suggest otherwise.

-—The Anoka County Watchdog