DFL caucus proposes $1 billion in new spending; Republicans scoff

"MN Budget"

04/20/2005

Dane Smith, Star Tribune
April 21, 2005

Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson outlined a DFL caucus plan this morning for close to $1 billion in new spending in the next two years, but he declined to say which taxes or other revenue sources DFLers intend to use for those increases.

“This is a press conference about spending,” Johnson said at least twice in response to reporters’ questions about revenue options. At one point he said: “My lips are sealed like a cardinal in the conclave.”

Republican leaders scoffed at the lack of detail in the Senate plan, which comes almost four months into the session and about a month from the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment deadline.

“This is not the time for political cuteness,” said Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R-Owatonna. “Why is the majority leader having a press conference if his lips are sealed about which taxes he’s going to raise?”

Johnson, however, tried to focus attention on Pawlenty’s budgets and alleged that his fiscal policies have imposed $2.5 billion in property tax increases, fee and tuition hikes, and surcharges on Minnesota citizens, despite Pawlenty’s claim not to have raised taxes.

That amounts to $3 for every Minnesotan over the age of 18, Johnson said, while the DFL proposal for the next two years would amount to an increase of just $1. He held up a $1 bill to illustrate his point. Johnson also accused Republicans of borrowing too much and of using accounting gimmicks to address several years of budget shortfalls.

“Our plan is appealing because it has no property tax increases, there are no gimmicks, there are no shifts,” Johnson said. The spending discussions should take place first, Johnson said, and he contended that the DFLers’ increased spending, mostly on a beleaguered education system, is in keeping with Minnesota values and sets up “a battle for the heart and soul of Minnesota’s future.”

However, DFLers presented only the sketchiest of details about their plan. They offered no side-by-side analysis of how it differs from Pawlenty’s or the House Republican majority’s proposed budgets.

The only detail provided was a single page with 11 basic budget functions and an estimate of how much more or less Senate DFLers intended to spend on each one, compared with how much would be spent under current laws and formulas for programs. Under those current laws and formulas, the state faces a projected $466 million shortfall.

The list showed some $800 million more for early childhood education and K-12 education, and Johnson said maintaining Minnesota’s “world-class education system” would be the Senate’s highest priority. Only three of the 11 categories showed decreases. They were: “taxes, aids and credits,"additional state agency cuts,” and “transportation.”

The list did not include a calculation of a bottom line net sum. The figures on the page add up to $1 billion more. But Johnson insisted that the net spending increase would be $899 million. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Richard Cohen said more details and clarification would be forthcoming later in the day.