Liberal in the Land of Conservative

State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark
208 State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155-1606
E-mail: www.senate.mn/senatorclark
Phone: 651-296-6455
March 18, 2008

Budget shortfall highlights need for stable spending and revenue

Given the decline in Minnesota’s economy since 2002, it didn’t come as a surprise that the state’s budget deficit ballooned to $938 million this February.

In making those choices, we should set priorities and pursue strategies that take into account the immediate, along with the long-term effects, of budget decisions. We need to do more than just balance the budget; we need to help make Minnesota stronger and more prosperous.

Minnesota’s constitution requires the state’s budget to be balanced, which means that cuts in a number of areas will be needed to balance the budget before the Legislature adjourns.

The governor offered his proposals for balancing the budget. Some of them make sense, like closing tax loopholes on corporations with shell operations in foreign countries and cracking down on tax cheats. So, too, are administrative cuts in state agencies.

Other cuts are more troubling, like delaying a paltry 2 percent raise for nursing home workers for a year and shifting more higher education costs onto students and parents through higher tuition. In these cases, making cuts seem simple, but we should be aiming for something more difficult—but more profound: structurally lowering the costs of government services.

There’s no doubt about it, health care costs, especially in long-term care, such as nursing homes, are spiraling out of control. With both an aging population and increases in the number of people living with disabilities, projections are that the need for long-term care will triple by 2050.

Simply stated, this is a situation that cannot be managed by cuts here and there, we need to stick to a long-term strategy that addresses how needs of the elderly and disabled are met. That includes incentives for people to acquire long-term care insurance, developing a stronger system of at-home care, and a strong network of services that includes transportation, meals-on-wheels, help maintaining a home and so on.

That may sound like a lot, but it’s far less expensive than the $4,500+ monthly cost for nursing home care. That’s one way to meet the need at lower overall cost.

It won’t be easy to do. Add to that the need to ensure that the people who provide services are trained, qualified and property supervised, and it adds up to a monumental challenge for policymakers and stakeholders.

In higher education, the proposed cuts to public colleges, like SCSU and the university, are just cost shifts to students and parents through higher tuition. With tuition rising an average of 40 percent in Gov. Pawlenty’s first term, it hardly seems fair that students and parents should again bail state government out of a budget crisis.

This proposal is shortsighted. High tuition is a barrier to completing college. For those who do complete their education, soaring debt is a barrier to getting on with life. It hinders the ability to do the things that Americans expect to do as a birthright—purchase a home, start a family and save for retirement.

Making college affordable makes all those things less difficult and builds Minnesota’s ability to attract and keep quality jobs. Making college “harder” through high costs is false economy. It hinders income and purchasing power. It’s a drag on the state’s economy. It makes Minnesota less strong and less prosperous.

To build Minnesota’s strength and prosperity, we need to be doing more to encourage college and training after high school, not less.

This legislative session will end with the state’s budget balanced. But, at the same time, I hope we can work across the partisan divide to pursue those things that reform the way the state operates and builds strength and prosperity for our businesses, our economy and our people.