Golden Hydrant goes to plan for spending $342,000 on new art in Plymouth and Maple Grove libraries

The county board voted 6 – 1 yesterday (with me being the “no” vote) to spend $60,000 on a public art project in the new Plymouth Library. Another $60,000 project for this facility is soon to come, followed by $220,000 worth of art projects for the recently completed new library in Maple Grove.

The newest Golden Fire Hydrant goes to the Hennepin County Board’s policy requiring that 1% of total project cost be added to the top of every large library project for public art.

I had the honor of helping cut ribbons for the grand openings of two beautiful new Hennepin County libraries in western Hennepin County recently. The costs for these new libraries in Plymouth and Maple Grove were approximately $12 million and $22 million, respectively.

I learned a few weeks ago, however, that despite being open for months to rave reviews from everyone, these new libraries are not complete, as we have not yet spent the required $342,000 on public art.

General tax levy will remain flat; rail and housing levies will increase

Tuesday was a big day in the county’s budget calendar as we set the maximum levy amount for Hennepin County’s three county-wide levies (the general levy, the housing levy and the rail levy). The result of Tuesday’s meeting was a mixed bag for taxpayers.

The big news: The county’s general levy amount WILL NOT increase in 2011. The board set the maximum levy amount at a 0% increase in 2011. Because it’s a maximum, we can levy less than a 0% increase when we set the final budget in December, but we can’t levy more.

The reason this is big news? It’s the first time since 1993 that Hennepin County has not increased the general levy amount. Obviously, this is a positive development.

The smaller (and not-so-good) news: The board set maximum increases for the county’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy and Regional Railroad Authority levy at 55% and 20%, respectively. Again, those are maximum increases, so we could set them lower in December, but I can all but guarantee that we will levy at those maximum amounts.

County seeks federal grant to better control how people live

Yesterday, the Hennepin County Board voted 5 – 1 (with me being the “no” vote) to join a consortium with the Met Council and others requesting a $5 million federal “sustainable communities regional planning grant.”

According to the background material, the grant would be used to support the metro area in planning to “integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of:

(1) economic competitiveness and revitalization;
(2) social equity, inclusion and access to opportunity;
(3) energy use and climate change; and
(4) public health and environmental impact.”

There were several difficult issues yesterday over which I struggled how to vote. This was not one of them.

This is central planning, top-down government control at its very worst. And, while collaboration and coordination between government units is always wise and welcome, this project has little to do with that. This is about “Smart Growth.” It’s about population density and the evils of the automobile. It’s about subsidized housing, subsidized transit, subsidized economic development and subsidized alternative energy.

An update on the investigation of Minnesota Majority’s report

Two weeks ago, the story broke about Minnesota Majority’s investigation alleging that felons, possibly by the hundreds, had illegally voted in Hennepin and Ramsey counties in the 2008 election. Some of the news coverage suggested that the Hennepin County Attorney’s office was not taking the allegations seriously or was dragging its feet in its investigation of the Minnesota Majority’s report.

These allegations are serious – going to the very heart of our democratic process. The integrity of our elections in Minnesota took a big hit already when we learned how inconsistently absentee ballots were counted throughout the state. To suggest that hundreds of felons illegally voted on top of that would seriously damage citizens’ faith in Minnesota’s ability to run fair and clean elections.

Over the course of the past week, I’ve spoken with Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and his Deputy County Attorney who handles election fraud cases several times. Here’s the scoop regarding HennCo’s actions with respect to these allegations:

Last week, the county board voted 6-1 (I was the “no” vote) in support of a county request to the Legislative -Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (“LCCMR”) to fund a proposed $700,000 county program called UrbanWatch. The program purportedly would support environmental education for at-risk kids in North Minneapolis and at the Hennepin County Home School, a facility for juveniles who have committed crimes.

The kicker: $600,000 of this public money would be spent to help kids plant and maintain 40 gardens in the urban core of Minneapolis and at the Home School. In other words, we would be spending $15,000 each for 40 “community gardens” in the name of environmental education.

Is Hennepin County so broke it needs a new tax to fund basic road maintenance?

Last year, the Hennepin County Board (minus the votes of Commissioner Randy Johnson and me) voted to increase the general property tax levy by 4.95%. At the same time, the board (minus only my vote) also increased the county regional railroad authority levy by 114% and the county housing authority levy by 176%. 

It’s only fair to note that county spending actually decreased between 2009 and 2010, but not enough to avoid tax increases.

As we begin our discussions about the county’s 2011 budget, the safe bet would be that all three levies will increase again. But despite these increases, we are also considering a new source of revenue for the county (on top of the three major levies, the ballpark tax, the transit tax, the tax on garbage collection, etc.) known as a “wheelage tax.”

Golden Hydrant goes to extension of ineffective teen pregnancy program

The newest Golden Fire Hydrant goes to the county’s “Better Together Hennepin: Healthy Youth, Healthy Communities” teen pregnancy prevention program. Last week the board voted 6 -1 to extend the program two years and spend another $518,000 (for a 4-year total of $1.1 million), despite receiving a report on the program showing it’s doing little or nothing to change the sexual behavior of the kids in the program.

“Better Together Hennepin” actually consists of several different teen pregnancy prevention programs that the county has been funding for two years – apparently to little success. Included are education and outreach programs through several different vendors, including Planned Parenthood, the Annex Teen Clinic and the Storefront Group. Also, the program includes funding two half-time sex education teachers in the Richfield and Brooklyn Center public schools.

The board chose to fund these programs for another two years despite seeing outcome studies that show they are ineffective in changing kids’ sexual behavior. This decision is a great example of government throwing money at a problem because it makes us feel good to be doing SOMETHING, even if that something is having no positive effect.

Federal stimulus spending in Hennepin County has created or retained almost 2600 jobs – at $276,000 a pop

We received a report regarding ARRA stimulus spending in Hennepin County at our board meeting on Tuesday.  According to the most recent report prepared by Hennepin County covering the period through December 31, 2009:  “More than $718 million in Recovery Act dollars funded as many as 726 projects at more than 200 different organizations and agencies across Hennepin County.”  Total number of jobs created or retained as a result:  2599.62.

That translates to a little over $276,000 per job created or retained (and that is using what has proven to be a VERY generous method of calculating jobs created or retained).

I understand that some of that $718M has not been spent yet, so more jobs might very well be created or retained (heck, maybe we can get the number down to $150K per job), but the stimulus was sold to America last spring as a way to immediately pump hundreds of billions into the economy and address the rising unemployment rate.  We were told to judge the stimulus on the massive number of jobs it would create in the short-term.

At $276K a pop, it hasn’t proven a very wise investment in the short-term.  But then again, what do we care – we’re leaving the bill for the next couple generations anyway.

I saw in the news last night that the City of Minneapolis has increased its pothole repair budget by $500,000 to deal with the havoc this odd winter and spring wreaked on Minneapolis roads.  Last month, the Hennepin County Board nearly doubled the county’s 2010 bituminous overlay program (a $3 million increase) to deal with potholes on county roads throughout the metro.

Wise decisions and good prioritization.  Hooray!

The Star Tribune printed an opinion piece I wrote today regarding Attorney General Lori Swanson’s decision not to file suit challenging the constitutionality of the new health care law. 

I should add a disclaimer: I lost the 2006 A.G. election to Swanson (and I can’t even argue voter fraud, as there were far too many votes separating us to blame on any ACORN conspiracy or a lost ballot box on the Iron Range).  So, for me, this is a little like fantasy football: I get to pretend I’m in charge of something even though I’m really just watching from the stands.

Jeff Johnson: Swanson Should Have Backed Suit

Fourteen states’ attorneys general have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new national health care law. Recently, Gov. Tim Pawlenty asked Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson to join those suits on behalf of the people of Minnesota. Not surprisingly, Swanson has informed the governor that she will not challenge the new law and, in fact, will file a brief arguing in its favor.

In Minnesota, the attorney general is the governor’s lawyer. That does not mean the attorney general is required to do the governor’s every bidding. If, for example, the governor requests the initiation of a baseless lawsuit or seeks to use the courts for partisan purposes (and I recognize we Republicans can play the partisan game with the best of them), there would be a strong basis for the attorney general to rebuff her client.

Pawlenty’s request, however, was not such a case. Instead, it set forth a very legitimate constitutional concern that every Minnesota citizen should share.