True North

We should not be surprised that there is politics going on at the state capitol; nonetheless, surprise should not temper our disgust. The Central Corridor is “out of the shed,” its funding restored, although there was no review of the project itself, which is why Gov. Pawlenty less-than-honestly told us he vetoed it. And while DFLers bemoaned the Central Corridor as dead, they knew and the governor knew, but neither was telling the public, the Central Corridor was simply being held hostage until the DFL could exploit the peasants for the ransom -- $20 million for Vermillion State Park.

The Central Corridor deception does not stop there. Supporters have been telling us the Central Corridor will reduce congestion and save Minnesotan’s money by reducing the time spent sitting in traffic; but the legislature waived sales tax on Central Corridor construction materials to free up $8 million to be used to ease traffic congestion created by the train, according to Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin.

So let me understand – the train is not really going to ease congestion; in fact, it is going to create it. So the quarter-cent sales transit sales tax metro area residents are paying isn’t, as promised, going to relieve congestion. We’ll still be paying the nearly $800 a year in congestion costs that light rail supporters said we would be saving if transportation taxes were raised, plus paying out of pocket after income taxes the new transportation taxes.

And in case you haven’t connected the dots, while the rest of us will be paying higher sales tax to improve transportation plus higher sales tax in Hennepin County to build a ballpark, likely higher sales tax in Bloomington to finance a parking ramp for the Mall of America and potentially via constitutional amendment higher sales tax to fund the outdoors and arts, one of the largest public projects in the history of the state will be exempt from the tax so the money can be diverted to ease (not eliminate) congestion problems the project will create – a problem that supporters said the project was intended to solve.

But we are getting property tax relief, right? Sure, if “property tax relief” isn’t defined as a lower property tax but rather as a decrease in the increase of property taxes by 30 percent (the net effect of a 3.9 percent cap on local property taxes, according to the governor). In other words, for every $100 your property tax goes up next year, you can thank the governor for saving you about $42, unless of course your city qualifies for one of the numerous exceptions that would allow it to exceed the cap or your school district passes a referendum. Unless one has a strong stomach it is best to ignore that the state will provide an extra $42 million to cities and $22 million to counties under the bill – which is also your money.

And of course, for the increased taxes you will pay, you will, notes Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Tom Bakke, receive reduced local services.

And the governor and the legislator were all smiles because in the words of House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, this was “the most productive Legislature in a very, very long time.” Forgive me if don’t go skipping along the cobblestones with Rep. Anderson Kelliher “feeling groovy.” I have to go refigure my household budget.