The City Council last week approved a new sales tax – up to 2% – to pay for what could amount to a $36 million slate of recreation projects. The council approved the measure 6-1 Tuesday, but due to a new law in Minnesota, the proposal next must pass muster in the Legislature. If it gets the OK there, it then will be put before East Grand Forks voters.
It's all due to a 2019 state law that changed the order of approval needed for sales-tax increases.
In the past, a government entity would first approve the increase, then put it to a public vote and then get the Legislature’s blessing. Now, the required order has changed: First, approval from the government entity – in this case, the City Council – followed by legislative approval, and then a public vote. Lawmakers can separately consider each proposed segment within a project. The new law also requires the originating entity to specifically list projects the tax would pay for and to demonstrate their “regional significance.”
Essentially, the new process acts like a firewall, presumably to provide some sort of limit to tax increases in Minnesota. Its intent is good – after all, keeping taxes stable in a state with a reputation for high taxes is a noble cause.
In the past, there were numerous new taxes going on the books in cities throughout the state. So the new law was enacted last year, adding a wall between proposal and enactment, with state lawmakers now guarding the door before voters get a chance to decide for themselves.
It’s a paternalistic approach.
Prior to last year, it was like the “horse is out of the barn,” Pat Dalton, of the Minnesota House Research Department, told the Herald last week.
“(Legislators) felt like they couldn’t stop any of (the tax increases),” Dalton said.
Whatever its intent, it’s odd that lawmakers from, say, Albert Lea and Grand Portage will have a say in whether East Grand Forks can seek the public’s help in paying for projects. And it’s odder still that lawmakers from faraway places can separately consider each segment of a very local project that the people’s representatives – the council – already approved.
Will East Grand Forks’ project be regionally significant? We believe so. It includes four segments: improvements of baseball fields, renovations at LaFave Park; Greenway trail upgrades; and $24 million to add a second sheet of ice at the Civic Center and turn the VFW Arena into a fieldhouse.
Each not only will add quality of life to the community and those who live there, but also will help bring more people to East Grand Forks, since recreation activities – tournaments and the like – have become big business for many towns.
The City Council made its decision and now the people of East Grand Forks should vote on it. Seeking permission for a vote from lawmakers across the state seems like an extraneous step in the process.
2020-01-27 12:00:00Z
https://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/editorials/4880572-Our-view-Extraneous-step-in-Minn.-tax-process
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