The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

November 17, 2009

Our View — Borrowing not a good budget sign

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget officials recently announced the state may have to borrow money to make ends meet. This is not a budget solution. It should only put more pressure on the governor and Legislature to come up with a bipartisan solution to Minnesota’s budget problems.

State revenue is currently running at $225 million below projections, and Minnesota Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson told legislators the state should be ready with a plan to borrow the money to keep paying the bills.

Minnesota has not faced having to borrow to pay its bills since the 1980s when a similar recession took place. At that time, the state borrowed some $1.6 billion and paid some $125 million in interest. Borrowing for current operations should be avoided simply because interest is an additional expense.

There are more people without jobs, wages are lower and we are proposing adding debt to the tax bill.

The long-term state budget remains unbalanced, and there is a projected $7 billion deficit coming up sooner than later. Minnesotans aren’t comfortable with that, and rightly so.

The governor’s unallotments are also coming back to haunt us. While Pawlenty approved unallotments that would cut some 28,000 to 30,000 poor off of General Assistance Medicaid, he now wants to put them all on MinnesotaCare, shifting the costs to county property taxpayers.

That will likely also bankrupt the MinnesotaCare fund, one of the few things not funded totally by taxes. When that fund goes into deficit, more will be expected from your doctor who pays the “fees” disguised as taxes to MinnesotaCare.

Minnesota faces myriad budget problems. Legislators and the governor need to get to work sooner than later at coming to a bipartisan solution. We should remember the Legislature did send the governor a balanced budget last year. He chose to reject it because it raised taxes. Now, his unallotments face a legal challenge.

Borrowing is not a solution. It’s a crutch. Minnesotans deserve an honest budget policy from their governor in these troubled times, not more borrowing or debtor status.

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