Commentary; Posted: 11/19/03

Suburban legislative block doing little for the people

By Don Heinzman

Suburban communities are losing confidence in their legislators who are in a position to promote and pass a suburban agenda, which is driven by rapid growth.

Republicans hold the majority in the House and nearly control the Senate, because the great political middle in the first, second, third and fourth-tier suburbs voted them in. Now, itís time for them to listen to those who elected them. So far, the response, admittedly in tight economic times, has been anemic.

What suburban voters will understand is their property tax bill increase for next year, because legislators rather than pass a state tax shoved the responsibility to local governments whose budgets were cut. The result is they had to cut expenses and raise taxes to the limit set by the Legislature.

The suburban agenda is a result of unbelievable growth. The priorities are: a better multi-modal transportation system, more funds for fast-growing school districts, lessening un-funded state and federal mandates and providing more and less costly access to health care benefits.

High on the agenda of northern suburbs is the need for commuter rail to relieve congestion on Highway 10 for which widening is not on the drawing boards. Poll after poll reveals residents ó the voters ó favor commuter rail. The plan is so simple because existing tracks would be used for special trains to carry commuters back and forth from the central cities, Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport and the Mall of America.

While some Republican Party members advocate commuter rail, most do not and in fact, Rep. Phil Krinke, a Shoreview Republican, is a leading opponent of a plan to have the state provide $120 million needed to get federal funds to build the project.

The Republican answer to the traffic bottlenecks is to try to fix them and build more highways. They generally oppose a gas tax increase to fund badly needed transportation solutions.

Another disappointment is funding for K-12 education. Because the increase in the most recent legislative session was so inadequate, many school districts had special levy referendums to avoid having more teachers laid off and having larger classes.

While some districts passed them, others in Elk River, Forest Lake, Farmington, Princeton and North Branch did not. As a result, millions of dollars will have to be cut from school budgets for next year.

One reason school budgets are so tight is the state and federal mandate to fund special education. The federal government has mandated this special, expensive education for disabled students but only provides 15 percent of that mandate.

The state picks up 42 percent, leaving local school districts funding the other 42 percent from the operating fund which takes a big bite out of the operating budget.

Another key item on the suburban agenda is to eliminate unfunded mandates at the city and county levels. They all cost money and they increase the property tax bill.

At the city level, mandates requiring binding arbitration to settle certain class employee disputes are costly. The pay equity law which attempts to equalize pay by gender class is expensive.

Not only does the Legislature require school districts and cities to come up with the money to fund its mandates, it puts a cap on the amount of property taxes that can be levied.

So far, the suburban legislative power block has done little for the people who elected them, except cut funding, and not increase taxes, while forcing the local property taxes to go up.

In the words of former Vice President Walter Mondale, suburban taxpayers can ask the Republican controlled Legislature: Whereís the beef?

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