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| Kath holds town hall meeting |
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Posted: Monday, March 2, 2009 3:24 pm
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Rep. Kory Kath, center, speaks with educator Mary Jenatschek, left and Waseca school board member Cathy Hoy at Saturday's town hall meeting. In the background, Rep. Paul Thissen talks with Dr. Tim Flor.
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By RUTH ANN HAGER
Staff Writer
WASECA — At a town hall meeting here Saturday, State Rep. Kory Kath said balancing the state budget will be difficult but that the cuts that are made must be fair and residents should have a voice in determining those cuts.
Kath, newly elected DFL representative from Owatonna, was joined at Waseca City Hall by Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis), chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and also a declared candidate for governor in 2010. Thissen came along to answer questions about the sizable cuts to Health Care and Human Services in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed budget.
Kath’s legislative committee assignments include k-12 education, public safety, crime victims and ag policy.
The group of approximately 35 people who attended Saturday’s forum included a Waseca County commissioner and members of both the Waseca City Council and the Waseca Board of Education.
Kath gave the governor credit for his efforts to balance the budget but he said 87 DFL House members have 87 different ideas about how to do it.
“This is going to be very, very contentious,” he said.
Using a deficit of $5 billion would mean cuts of $2 billion, $1 billion from the federal stimulus program, a $1 billion tax shift in k-12 education funding, and $1 billion in general obligation bonds, according to Kath.
“I’m adamantly opposed to bonding for our future,” he said.
Tuesday’s budget forecast makes obsolete everything proposed to date by the governor, Kath said, and he anticipates a realignment of government and an end to some local mandates.
He asked the audience for “push back” to tell their representatives if they are going too far in cuts.
“What are the sacred cows?” Kath asked.
Waseca Mayor Roy Srp said local government aid is not a sacred cow for him but he would like state mandates lifted from cities. “There are plenty of them that would sure help us out,” he said.
If LGA is cut, however, city hands shouldn’t be tied by a 3.9 percent cap on property tax increases, said council member Les Tlougan.
One suggestion, Kath said, is a “blink tax” that “blinks on” and “blinks off” when the economic crisis is over.
Revenue options include increases to sales tax, income tax or fees, which, he said, are also a tax.
“It’s the wrong time for a sales tax,” said Pete Fog, a retired agriculture instructor, because with so many unemployed, people can’t afford a sales tax.
Kath said the sales tax is the most regressive but it is also the least volatile.
Ron Purcell, a local Soil and Water Conservation supervisor, said he fears that conservation will take the biggest hit. He asked Kath to keep his eyes on conservation and to “keep it fair.”
The biggest struggle will be to keep conservation funding coming from the newly passed sales tax amendment, Kath said. “The amendment will be raided,” he said. “There are too many people eyeing that.”
State art funds were cut 50 percent in the governor’s budget, Kath said, which is an indication that cuts to the arts will be severe.
Thissen said health care will take serious cuts. The governor is proposing $1.5 to $1.8 billion in cuts out of a $9 billion budget, eliminating people from health care and reducing rates to hospitals and nursing homes. The stimulus package would put $2 billion in health care and “help to cushion the blow,” Thissen said, but legislators must determine who needs health care services the most. Because of the economy, he hopes for a four to five month bridge to help people who have lost their jobs and health care.
The good news of the federal stimulus money coming now, Kath said, is that the governor and legislature will have to work together.
What he is trying to determine through meetings with his constituents is what a fair budget would look like.
“There are two levels of sacrifice,” Kath said.
“The first is what you’re willing to give up and the second is what you’re willing to give.”
Ruth Ann Hager is at 507- 837-5446 or rhager@wasecacountynews.com. |
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