I’m writing to you today to talk about our new budget that was passed in May of this year. There has been quite a bit of misinformation about different taxes and who will be paying what, and as our area’s representative at the Legislature I’m happy to address some of those concerns.

First, we did not implement any tax on things like beer or clothing. What our budget did do is ask those making more than $250,000 a year to pay a little more in income taxes so we could invest in our schools and our communities.

Because of that budget, the schools in our district are going to see nearly $6 million in new state funds over the next two years, a 3 percent increase over their current funding. Those are funds that will help bring down class sizes and fully fund all-day kindergarten for every student in our communities.

Our budget also increases aid for townships, cities and counties. Albert Lea alone will see an increase of $434,567 in local government aid next year, a 9 percent increase compared to this year. Even more aid will go to our area townships, cities and counties to help bring down local taxes and support local services like keeping up local roads and public safety. And our budget provides increased direct property tax relief for 450,000 more homeowners and 66,000 renters across the state to help lower their taxes even further.

Our budget tripled Minnesota’s investment in job creation to over $100 million to ensure we offer an attractive climate for private businesses.

Our budget is investing in schools, property tax relief and jobs because those are the most crucial pieces to having a strong economy. But if you still have questions about what investments our budget makes, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

Shannon Savick
state representative
District 27A
Wells