Public Welcome at Hearing this coming Tuesday

The County Board will hold its annual Truth in Taxation hearing on the proposed 2012 budget and property tax levy at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the Hennepin County Government Center.

The Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed budget at our regularly scheduled board meeting on December 12.  That budget contains a small decrease in actual spending (as was the case each of the past two years) and no increase in the property tax levy amount.

Despite this, many county taxpayers noted that the property tax notices they received last week indicated property tax increases for Hennepin County and other local taxing authorities.  For example, the taxable market value for my home dropped just under 1%, but my property taxes are estimated to increase 6.8%.  Specifically, my county tax will increase 7%, the City of Plymouth portion will increase 5.9%, the Wayzata School District amount will increase 7%, the Met Council tax will increase 6% and “other special taxing districts”  will increase 8.6%.

I am hearing about similar increases from many of my constituents.

There are several reasons one’s county property tax amount can increase even if the actual total tax amount collected by the county remains the same.  If, for example, my valuation drops less than the average valuation drops, I will likely see a tax increase while some of my neighbors whose valuation dropped at a greater rate might see a smaller increase or a decrease in taxes.  The state legislature and the Governor can also agree to changes in state law that might lead to a property tax increase for some, as we are likely to see next year when some owners of higher-valued homes and commercial real estate pay extra to make up for changes to the market value homestead credit to benefit owners of some lower-valued homes.

Regardless of the reasons or whose “fault” it is, however, many property owners in Hennepin County are likely to see property tax increases based on the proposed budget that will be discussed at the Truth in Taxation hearing this week.  My intent again this year is to offer an amendment to our budget to cut the property tax levy by an amount that would hold the “average” homeowner in Hennepin County harmless from a county tax increase.  While we have not determined the exact amount of that cut yet, it is likely somewhere between a 2% and 3% levy reduction.

The hearing will be held in the County Board Room on the 24th Floor of the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. Sixth St., Minneapolis.

Free parking is provided for residents testifying at this hearing who park in the Government Center’s underground ramp after 4:30 p.m. The ramp entrance is on 3rd Avenue between 5th and 6th streets.

Overall, not a bad day for HC taxpayers – but there’s still work to do…

Last week, the County Board set our “maximum levy” amounts for 2012.  State law requires every local government unit to set the maximum amount it will levy for the upcoming year in early September.  Once the maximum levy amount is set, the local government can still choose to levy less when it sets its final budget (usually in December), but it cannot choose to levy more.

Hennepin County has three separate levies – the general levy, the railroad authority levy and the housing authority levy.  In 2011, the general levy was set at just under $650 million.  The railroad levy was $18 million.  The housing levy was just over $5.6 million.

Last week, the Board voted 5 – 1 (Gail Dorfman was absent and I voted no) to set the maximum general levy at an amount representing a 1% increase.  I moved to set the max at the same level as last year, but was voted down 2 – 4 (with Randy Johnson joining me in voting “yes”).  Keep in mind that the 1% increase (approximately an extra $6.5 million in tax revenue) is the maximum and the Board could decide to hold the levy flat – or even cut it – when we set our final budget.

The original proposal from the County Administrator was to set the maximum 2012 railroad levy at $21 million – just over a 17% increase from 2011.  Commissioner Jan Callison successfully moved to cut that increase in half.  I then moved to hold the maximum levy at $18 million (a 0% increase).  That motion also passed on a vote of 4 – 2 (with Randy Johnson, Mike Opat and Mark Stenglein joining me).

The Board unanimously set the maximum housing levy at a 0% increase as proposed by the county administrator.

My goal in our final budget discussions will be to cut the levies by an amount that would hold the “average” Hennepin County homeowner harmless from a higher county property tax bill.

County Saves Money; Board Spends It

Last week, the Hennepin County Board (sitting as the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority) voted 5 – 1 to authorize $34 million from “contingency funds” to buy 16 additional rail cars for the Central Corridor light rail line (CCLRT) between Minneapolis and St. Paul.  I voted “no” (Gail Dorfman was absent).

The CCLRT is estimated to cost just under $1 billion to build.  Part of that budget includes $144 million for contingencies – cost overruns, change orders, unforeseen construction problems that frequently arise in huge capital projects.

Because of a favorable bidding environment, bids for parts of the CCLRT project to date have come in $34 million under project estimates.

Good news, right?  Finally, a government project that actually comes in under budget and costs the taxpayers just a little bit less than originally planned (even if that project itself is a boondoggle that couldn’t survive any rational person’s cost-benefit analysis).

So what do we do?  Return the $34 million to the original funding entities, including Hennepin County, to provide some small relief to the taxpayers?

Nope.  Instead we use the opportunity to buy more light rail cars, which according to the original proposal and ridership estimates, we will not need unless ridership is higher than anticipated.

Taxpayer Victory: No New Auto Tax

On a 2-5 vote, the County Board yesterday defeated a proposal to assess a $5 tax onto every automobile in Hennepin County.  Commissioners Callison, Johnson, Opat and Stenglein joined me in voting “no”.

The rationale given for the new tax: It would benefit property tax payers in the county by shifting $4 million per year off the property tax role and onto automobile owners – an appropriate user fee for those who use the roads.

To argue that creating a new tax on our constituents somehow benefits them is … curious.  In reality, I think there were probably two more important motives behind this proposal:

1. More Money.  Government at every level is always looking for new sources of revenue.  While the amount this new tax would have yielded was small in the grand scheme of a $1.56 billion budget, it was new money nonetheless.  And “naive” would be a mild descriptor for anyone who believed we would actually make any long-term cut in property taxes to offset the new tax.

No one is proposing a spending cut

How is it that the debate over the Minnesota budget has become so blatantly dishonest over the past couple months?

All I hear and read is that our choices are between an “all cuts” budget from the Republican legislature that slashes spending and cuts to the bone versus a “balanced approach” from Governor Dayton that combines deep spending cuts with increases in taxes on the wealthy.

The analysis is simply false…It’s a lie.

In reality, both the Republican proposal and the Governor’s proposal would increase the budget in the coming biennium over the past biennium, it’s just that Dayton’s proposal would increase the budget exponentially more than the Republicans.

My Third Year on the Board Begins

Two weeks ago, we opened the 2011 season of the Hennepin County Board by reelecting Mike Opat as chairman and returning all seven commissioners to the same chairmenships we held over the past two years.  I will again be chairman of the Public Safety Committee and co-chairman with Peter McLaughlin of our Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

As you can see in my last post from 2010, we finished the year on a relatively positive note, with a small overall tax cut for Hennepin County property tax payers.  The cut was not as large as it could have or should have been, but Hennepin County is taxing less and spending less in 2011 than 2010 – and that’s a good thing.

We still have a LONG way to go before I’ll be willing to argue that we’re spending wisely on the right priorities in the county, but we should always recognize and appreciate steps in the right direction.

Tax levy will be smaller for the first time in nearly 20 years

The county board unanimously voted yesterday to pass a 2011 budget containing a 1% general property tax levy decrease.  This is the first time since the early 90′s that the county general levy has been cut (and only the second time in over 30 years). 

We came into yesterday’s final 2010 meeting with a proposed budget holding the general levy flat.  Commissioner Opat proposed the 1% decrease (which represents about a $6.8 million tax cut).  I moved to amend his proposal to cut the levy by 1.7%, which is the amount we would need to cut this year in order to hold the “average” home in Hennepin County harmless from a county tax increase.  My amendment failed on a 2 – 5 vote, with Mark Stenglein joining me.

The good news was tempered a bit by the fact that the board raised the other two county tax levies.

The county’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy (which was just created 2 years ago) was increased from $3.6 million to $5.6 million and the county’s Rail Authority levy was increased from $15 million to $18 million.  So, in the end, we cut taxes by about $6.8 million and raised taxes by $5 million – overall a net win for the taxpayers of Hennepin County.

Yesterday’s StarTribune carried a commentary I wrote about the county board’s spending priorities.  Bottom Line:  Until we stop spending on things like library art and garbage burner beautification, don’t let anyone tell you that government is broke and needs more of your money.

Cut to the bone? We haven’t even cut library art.

Recently, I offered a resolution to place a moratorium on the requirement that Hennepin County automatically spend 1 percent of every large library building project on public art. We are scheduled to spend almost $1 million in our capital budget over the next four years on library art.

My resolution failed on a 2-5 vote.

My rationale was simple: At a time when we are making actual budget cuts almost across the board in the county, it makes absolutely no sense to be automatically dedicating hundreds of thousands of dollars to every library building project for art. Most of my colleagues, however, disagreed.

There has been considerable coverage and interest in this story and some have asked why I’m making such a big deal out of something that represents a minuscule portion of Hennepin County’s $1.6 billion annual budget.

I have actually made no bigger deal out of this spending issue than I have numerous others over the past couple years; this one just caught people’s attention — as evidenced by numerous media stories, letters to the editor and e-mails to my inbox (the most recent with the salutation: “Hey, Pukebreath”).

Art in libraries is simply the freshest example of a much bigger problem in government: Our inability or unwillingness to set spending priorities.

Board Votes Down Resolution to Place a Moratorium on Art Spending

Yesterday, I offered a resolution to place a moratorium on the requirement that Hennepin County automatically spend 1% of every large library building project on public art.  Currently, we are scheduled to spend almost $1 million in our capital budget over the next four years on library art.

My resolution failed on a 2-5 vote (with Randy Johnson joining me in voting “yes”).

My rationale was simple: At a time when we are making actual budget cuts almost across the board in the county, it makes absolutely no sense to be automatically dedicating hundreds of thousands of dollars to every library building project for art.  Most of my colleagues, however, disagreed.

Last night, Jeff Passolt on Fox9 hosted an arts advocate and me to debate the issue:

Golden Hydrant goes to Hennepin County for providing free non-emergency health care to illegal immigrants

Today the county board voted on some significant changes to Hennepin County Medical Center’s (HCMC) admissions policy, including changes to whom HCMC provides free subsidized non-emergency care. Hennepin County taxpayers subsidize HCMC to the tune of over $30 million each year to cover free and reduced-cost services to the poor.

The new policy proposed to deny free non-emergency services (federal law requires all hospitals to provide emergency services to everyone, regardless of ability to pay) to those who do not live in Hennepin County. In the past, HCMC has provided services to anyone who walked in the door, regardless of residence or ability to pay. Under this new policy, HCMC would continue to provide free services to ANYONE who claims to live in Hennepin County, including illegal immigrants.

I offered an amendment to the policy stating simply:

“Free and Discounted Care provided through Hennepin County Medical Center will be limited to U.S. citizens or legal noncitizens except as otherwise required by state or federal law…”

My proposal failed on a vote of 6 – 1.

The latest Golden Fire Hydrant goes to HCMC’s decision – and the county board’s blessing of that decision – to spend taxpayer dollars to provide free non-emergency health care services to illegal immigrants.