December 10th, 2009 • 4:57 amPawlenty On LGA Unallotments
Wednesday, Gov. Pawlenty’s office issued a press release concerning LGA funding. Here’s Gov. Pawlenty’s statement:
GOVERNOR PAWLENTY ANNOUNCES DECEMBER LOCAL AID PAYMENTS WILL NOT BE UNALLOTED
Saint Paul - Governor Tim Pawlenty today wrote to city and county leaders to inform them he does not intend to take executive action to reduce local aid payments later this month.
Last week, state budget officials announced a $1.2 billion deficit for the current two-year budget period. Governor Pawlenty stated he will work with the legislature to resolve the shortfall, but had said because of the timing of payments, that a portion of the December local aid payments could be unalloted.
In his letter, Governor Pawlenty said, “Given the imminent expected payment of December local aid, I have determined that additional local aid program cuts, if any, should be focused on future payments.” The Governor noted that if the legislature is unable to pass appropriate budget reductions, future aid payments would likely be reduced.
Approximately $437 million in local aid payments are scheduled to be sent to cities and counties later this month. Those payments include local government aid (LGA), county program aid (CPA), market value homestead credits (MVHC) and other local aid programs. LGA and CPA payments are delivered in two separate payments in July and December. MVHC payments are sent out in October and December.
Funding totals for those programs in 2009 were:
*Local government aid (to cities): $481.5 million
*County program aid (to counties): $194.9 million
*Market value homestead credits (to cities, counties and townships to reduce property taxes): $197.1 million
Approximately 45 percent of the state’s population, 2.4 million Minnesotans, lives in communities that receive no LGA payments. In 2009, 92 cities with a combined population of nearly 1.4 million people and the state’s townships, with 980,000 residents, received no LGA.
Governor Pawlenty has requested that legislative leaders start committee hearings immediately to craft budget reductions that could be enacted promptly at the beginning of the legislative session that gets underway on February 4, 2010. The Governor has also ordered state government agencies to begin holding back a portion of their spending for possible cuts.
By making this decision, Gov. Pawlenty is putting the DFL leadership on the spot. He ’spared’ cities and counties from LGA cuts for now. The DFL will undoubtedly try passing job-killing tax increases that affect only ‘the rich’. They won’t do this to fix the economy but to make ‘the rich’ pay “their fair share” of the burden.
The DFL has a habit of asking the wrong question. The wrong question is whether “the rich” are “paying their fair share.” The right question is whether their policies will make Minnesota’s economy flourishes and whether Minnesotans of all demographic groups are prospering.
Clearly the DFL’s irresponsible spending habits are driving people from the state. The DFL’s tax policies are driving seniors from the state. The DFL’s tax policies are having a direct effect on Minnesota’s economy. Tom Bakk argued that in this post:
Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said eliminating the current mortgage interest deduction could hurt Minnesota’s high rate of home ownership and higher alcohol taxes would drive some liquor shoppers across the Wisconsin border.
If increasing the tax on alcohol is driving shoppers into shopping in Wisconsin, then it isn’t a stretch to think that distillers might move to Iowa to save $29,650 annually in fees.
It’s time that the DFL admitted that their policies aren’t working. Their policies are adding an unreasonable tax burden on Minnesota’s taxpayers and small businesses. It’s time we got Minnesota’s spending under control. That’s the only way companies will move here.
Thanks to Gov. Pawlenty, we’re starting to get things corrected. Let’s keep heading in the right direction.
Technorati: LGA, Unallotment, Tim Pawlenty, Prosperity, Fiscal Restraint, MNGOP, Tom Bakk, Taxes, Fees, Spending, DFL
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What an a*****e.
Trying to posture local governments against other needs, by saying he would not cut LGA unless the legislature does or does not do such-and-such, HIS way.
The man is an absolute disaster.
That lawsuit over how he abused the intent of the unallotment statute by creating an unbalanced budget from a balanced one the legislature fashioned, over the Constitutionality of such trashy actions, needs to be pushed big time by the legislature.
First thing back, the legislators need to fix that unallotment statute and its wording, AND pass legislation that would unfund for the balance of term in office, the salary of any governor and his/her direct administrative staff, if that governor does not spend funds as directed and budgeted by the legislature.
Cut off the head of the snake and the snake will die.
Pawlenty, so far, has been the biggest recommendation that the state switch to a parliamentary system.
Comment by eric z • 10Dec2009 @ 8:17 am
If they do, he’ll veto it & it will be sustained by the House GOP. INTERESTING TIDBIT OF INFORMATION: The Minnesota Supreme Court has already ruled on unallotment. This fight is finished. Pawlenty has solid legal footing for doing what he did.
GET OVER IT!!!
Secondly, the joke budget that the DFL finally passed included a forecasted $3,625 surplus at the end of the biennium. In other words, the DFL put together a hodgepodge budget that even journalists didn’t take seriously. The DFL legislature, for all intents & purposes, didn’t meet its constitutional responsibility. It’ll be impossible for the DFL to argue that Gov. Pawlenty created the deficit when their own forecast said that there’d be a $3,625 surplus at the end of this biennium.
The judges will take one look at that & rightly say that the DFL knew that that $3,625 surplus wouldn’t exist with the way the economy is still shrinking.
Comment by Gary Gross • 10Dec2009 @ 10:07 am
Gary, dead wrong.
The Minnesota State Supreme Court has NOT ruled on unallotment.
Look it up. The Rukivena case was a lower court determination, on differing facts. It did not deal with a governor-manufactured abuse of an emergency statute.
The case is online, if you can find it. You and your King need to get facts straight.
Comment by eric z • 11Dec2009 @ 8:37 am
First off, the budget never was in balance. Gov. Pawlenty’s veto didn’t create the deficit. Passing a budget that includes a tax increase & that anticipates a $3,625 surplus after at the end of the biennium at a time when state revenues were continuing to decline isn’t a balanced budget. Had Gov. Pawlenty signed the DFL’s irresponsible hodgepodge of a bill that included the tax increase, we would’ve had a 7-figure deficit BEFORE LABOR DAY!!! That’s with FY2010 starting on July 1.
All other arguments are meaningless.
Comment by Gary Gross • 11Dec2009 @ 10:13 am