A.L. reform meetings were successful

Published 9:57 am Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Column: Rich Murray, My Point of View

On Nov. 17, Rep. Tony Cornish and House Majority Leader Matt Dean joined me in Albert Lea for a Reform 2.0 meeting with local leaders.

The goal of Reform 2.0 is to build on last session’s successful state government redesign efforts, which some analysts project will save $2.5 billion in spending in our next budget. To help do this, we are asking local residents to share their ideas that will make government operate more efficiently.

Rich Murray

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I thought the Albert Lea meeting provided some good discussion and interesting perspectives, as local officials, business leaders and school administrators all shared their input and feelings about what is right and wrong with state government.

For instance, we talked about the new Market Value Homestead Credit, which will replace the current Market Value Homestead Exclusion beginning in tax year 2012. The change was made to help balance the state budget and because MVHC funding was cut significantly nine out of the past ten years, leading to huge financial uncertainty for local communities and forcing area leaders to alter their budgets long after they had been set.

One leader told us that since the MVHC program is ending, to resist the temptation to reinstate it because there is now more financial predictability. Another attendee was concerned that an unintended consequence of this legislation could force commercial and industrial property taxes to rise by a noticeable percentage. A small town official mentioned that his community has few homes and even fewer commercial properties, and was concerned about the new program’s future impacts.

Based on this input, there will likely be legislation debated during the 2012 session that will address many of the MVHC concerns.

Others, such as school officials, asked us to make their lives easier through mandate relief. They noted that required bookkeeping could be more streamlined, and that simplifying the process could free up more employees, and in turn, make the district more efficient.

The Legislature did remove several mandates last session, and I expect local mandate relief to be at the forefront of reform discussions as well in the coming months.

Finally, we were encouraged by these leaders to make the tough decisions, and make them as quickly as possible. These folks stressed that they often have earlier budget deadlines when compared to the Legislature, making it tough to decide if they need to reduce services, hire or fire employees, and set a yearly budget without a state timeline or improved communication.

Again, I found this reform meeting to be extremely productive, and I thank all who participated.

The next day, I had another reform meeting of sorts with staff and administration with the Good Samaritan Society and St. John’s Lutheran Home in Albert Lea. As we were planning to discuss financial issues, I asked state Rep. Joe Schomacker of Luverne to join us, as he serves on the Minnesota House Health Finance Committee and is very knowledgeable in the finance area.

What good sessions we had with staff and administration! We presented them with this question: Knowing you are not going to receive a funding increase from the state, what can state government do that would allow you to use more of your funding for employee raises and better care for your residents?

Again, we heard about costly and sometimes ridiculous state requirements, such as forcing these centers to coordinate with state and county officials when they simply could have done the work themselves; requiring them to follow mandates that state homes and even hospitals do not have to meet; and making them duplicate if not triplicate services when once would suffice.

By the time we were done, the Good Samaritan Society came up with reforms that staff estimated could save $300,000 to $500,000 if implemented, and nearly every proposal simply centered on removing cumbersome, time consuming state regulations.

This is why, along with job creation, my top priority for 2012 is to redesign state government for the better and to focus on outcomes. If you have reform ideas, please share them with me, as I am actively compiling a list of ideas that will make government more efficient.

Please contact me at rep.rich.murray@house.mn, or call 1-877-377-9441. I welcome your feedback.

 

Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea, is the state representative for House District 27A.