Gov.

Friday, January 26, 2001

Gov. Jesse Ventura visited Austin on Thursday afternoon to introduce his 2002-2003 budget to southern Minnesota residents, taking time out of his duties as governor to explain just what "the price of government" is in Minnesota. He spoke to a gathering of Hormel Foods Corp. employees and executives, members of the media and community leaders at the Hormel Sales Cabin.

He spoke of a tax referendum and oddly enough, physics. The difference between tax relief and a tax referendum, he said, is that a referendum is a "change in the mechanism."

In keeping with the mechanics of the budget, Ventura used a commonly known physics principle: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Likewise, for every dollar spent in the budget, another dollar must be created somewhere.

"And if you know your biology, that one more dollar doesn’t grow on a tree," he said, introducing the "common sense" in his budget proposal.

Ventura stressed that he had only made two promises during his campaign – to give the surpluses back and to limit the growth of government. Calling himself "fiscally conservative and socially liberal," Ventura said that with his new budget he will have kept both of his promises.

"Get ready," he said, "because another (tax rebate) is coming this summer." Minnesotans have previously received two tax rebates since Ventura took office.

The permanent government growth during Ventura’s four-year term would have been close to 26 percent if he had not decided to set some rules. "I will not allow it!" Ventura said.

"The time for tax reform is when times are good," said Ventura, as he went on to explain his proposed budget .

The Minnesota tax code, he said, was based on the New York State code and was implemented in the state in the 1950s. In the early days of the newly implemented Minnesota tax code, "60 percent of the economy was goods and 40 percent was services. Today, those numbers have flip-flopped."

Ventura said he plans to reduce the motor vehicle tax to a maximum of $75. Those Minnesota drivers who are already paying less than that amount will not find their rates increased to the $75 limit.

Ventura has proposed to expand the state sales tax to services, but will continue to exempt necessities of life, particularly food, clothing and fuel oil. He will reduce the impact by lowering the tax rate from 6.5 to 6 percent.

To illustrate his point, he listed several services which are similar but currently are not taxed equally. For instance, haircuts for people are exempt from taxes, while haircuts for dogs are not; likewise, lodging for dogs is taxed, while lodging for horses is not.

"What this means is that dogs don’t have good lobbyists," Ventura said, bringing laughter from the audience. He went on to say he is working to insure that taxes are fair in all regions of Minnesota and are not dictated by lobbyists.

He has also proposed to reduce the average property tax statewide. In his plan, all homeowners – in town and on the farm – will be on a level playing field.

"Cutting taxes is a pay raise," he told the crowd.

"Rural and greater Minnesota communities, such as Austin, are winners with my tax proposal," he stressed.

Besides taxes, he would also like to reform the telecommunication laws, which were written 80 years ago.

"A lot has changed in 80 years," Ventura said.

"Don’t believe it all," Ventura said of the recent news reports about his budget. "The prices for telecommunications are not necessarily going up in rural Minnesota."

With revised laws, competition will be brought to rural communities, which, in theory, should strengthen the services offered, while keeping prices down.

Ventura’s education plan includes targeting financial aid for part-time students and those who will obtain their degree in a period over four years.

The state will take over the full cost of kindergarten through 12th grade per-pupil funding. Ventura said residents will then know if the local district has added an additional tax, since it will clearly be listed on the property tax statement.

At the question and answer session immediately after the governor’s speech, Austin Public Schools Board members Amy Baskin asked if the fact that the state will take over 100 percent of per-pupil funding means that local control of how the money is spent will be lost.

"Not on my watch," Ventura said. "You will still have full local control."

After the meeting, superintendent of Austin Schools, Dr. Jim Hess, said that he is pleased the governor gave some recognition to the struggles schools face.

Of the governor’s comments to Baskin, Hess said he has mixed feelings: "More and more the state is imposing their values and curriculum on local districts. But I believe that the governor seems to understand that the best decisions about children will be made by the district’s boards, administrators and parents."

"We need to streamline the bureaucracy in the teacher licensure system," Ventura said, in his speech.

Of the recent criticism Ventura’s budget has received from University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof, Ventura said his responsibility is to the entire state and he couldn’t possibly grant all of the $8 billion in tax expenditures that were requested by entities within the state, including the University of Minnesota.

Housing was addressed after Kermit Mahan of Austin’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority asked if support for affordable housing will continue to come from the governor’s office.

"Seventy-three million was dedicated to it last year and I added another $24 million this year," Ventura said. He added that property tax decreases should help make housing more affordable as well.

Department of Commerce Commissioner James Bernstein addressed two questions from the audience regarding the state of Minnesota’s energy reserves. Bernstein said Minnesota has zero natural gas and oil reserves, but "we have lots of wind."

But since wind alone can’t solve the state’s energy needs, Ventura’s administration will be taking a year to look at the state’s resources and make some decisions about what forms of power the state will develop: coal, nuclear or the one form of energy Ventura’s administration is fairly committed to – wind.

Bernstein added that deregulation would only "move into process" if in six to eight years the proper infrastructure is in place and it is clear that instituting it will bring a benefit to the state.

City of Austin Zoning Administrator Craig Hoium asked the governor if additional funding will be made available for flood-damaged areas of the state.

"It’s a never-ending headache," Ventura replied. "Right now we’re doing the best we can," which includes meetings with individuals in other communities hit hard by floods, such as the Red River Valley.

After the speech Hoium said he acknowledges that the Red River Valley may have been harder hit by recent floods. But, he added, it is the responsibility of government officers in the city of Austin to try to exhaust efforts with the state legislature and Ventura’s office on behalf of the local residents. Hoium sees the flooding situation as one without an easy answer: "By no means can we say that this problem will be resolved two years from now."

Austin City Councilman-at-Large Dick Chaffee agreed and said "we need to keep this issue in front of other government bodies and get the basics and needs for our people."

Ventura’s future plans as governor include "cutting through red tape as individuals and rendering positives," in countries such as China and Cuba. He has already made "building relationships" trips to Japan, Canada and Mexico. Ventura would like to see the embargo on Cuba dropped, since instituting the embargo to drive Castro out "obviously hasn’t worked."

Of destinations closer to home, Ventura said his proposed light-rail system, to increase transportation options in the state, will only cost the state $100 million. The remainder of the cost is part of the federal transportation package.

"To all of the naysayers out there, sure you can criticize me today. But I believe that the ultimate judge will be 20 to 25 years from now," Ventura said. Ultimately he believes that people will thank him for the light-rail system and its impact on congestion in the metro areas.

Summing up the importance of the visit, Mayor of Austin Bonnie Rietz said, "I’m really pleased that he is visiting out-state Minnesota. There are issues here that he needs to be aware of and I think he is."

Information on the governor’s biennial budget can be read online at: http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/governor/