GOP to urge property tax relief

02/09/2006

Both parties expect large bonding bills to pass

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Property tax relief for homeowners will be the top priority for the Republican majority in the Minnesota House during the 2006 legislative session that starts March 1, Speaker Steve Sviggum said Tuesday.

Sviggum, R-Kenyon, predicted the House would use more than $100 million of the $317 million surplus available to lawmakers to cushion the impact of an average 10.2 percent property tax increase predicted for this year. He said the relief would go to all homeowners, not local governments. He didn’t offer details on what the relief would mean for typical homeowners.

Sviggum’s counterpart in the Senate, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Majority Leader Dean Johnson of Willmar, didn’t rule out property tax relief, but he said he was concerned that the Republicans want to use “one-time money” to bail themselves out in an election year instead of providing permanent tax relief.

The most important bill in the 2006 session, Sviggum said, will be the bonding bill that authorizes the state to borrow money to finance construction projects. He predicted the House would pass a bill close to the $897 million that Gov. Tim Pawlenty requested for capital improvements, but with more emphasis on college buildings and roads and bridges.

As soon as the Legislature passes the bonding bill, “we will adjourn and go home,” he said.

Johnson said the Senate also would pass an “aggressive bonding bill.” Other DFL senators have predicted it would boost the size of the construction by $100 million to $150 million above Pawlenty’s request.

Much of the rest of the House Republican agenda simply rubberstamps Pawlenty initiatives. “I’m not aware of anything I disagree with Tim Pawlenty on,” Sviggum said.

He endorsed the Republican governor’s proposal to require school districts to spend 70 percent of their money in the classroom.

Sviggum also backed Pawlenty’s plan to issue $2.5 billion in bonds for at least 21 major highway projects if voters in November pass a constitutional amendment dedicating all revenue from the state’s motor-vehicle sales tax to roads and mass transit.

He predicted the House would pass Pawlenty’s “pay for performance” proposal that would dock the paychecks of legislators and the governor if they fail to pass a balanced budget on time, as they did last summer when they shut down much of state government for eight days.

To protect personal property rights, Sviggum said House Republicans would pass legislation to limit local governments’ use of eminent domain to take citizens’ homes for private economic development projects. Johnson said Senate DFLers would pass similar eminent domain restrictions.

Sviggum predicted the House would vote to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to dedicate 3/16 of 1 percent of the state sales tax to natural resources projects. He said that money would come from the current 6½ percent sales tax.

Johnson said the Senate would approve a similar amendment, but he thinks the Senate version would call for a 3/16 of 1 percent tax increase, raising the sales tax to 6 11/16 percent.

Although they were not part of the House Republican agenda, Sviggum said he personally supports bills to build new stadiums for the University of Minnesota football team and the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team. “I think both stadiums should be voted on, yes or no,” he said.