Capitol View: March 19, 2009 Archive

New taxes? How about the old ones?

Posted at 7:12 AM on March 19, 2009 by Tim Nelson

Two well known political figures in St. Paul have found themselves in tax trouble.

First term St. Paul City Council member Melvin Carter confirmed last night that he owes back property taxes on a home he owns on Charles Avenue in St. Paul with his wife, Alecia. The property tax statement says the taxes for payable 2008 were $2,830 and his name was included on a recent list of delinquent property owners just published by the county in the Maplewood Review.

County records show no property tax payments were made on Carter's property on Charles Avenue last year. Here's the Google Street View shot of the address, including what looks like a Carter lawn sign from the 2007 election.

"The error was mine," said Carter, when asked about the taxes. "We just didn't realize it was going delinquent." He said he would pay them today.

That's also what John Krenik said about his back taxes. A former Republican legislative candidate and would-be soil and water commissioner, his name turned up on the same list as Carter's.

Krenik is also, by the way, the sole publicly declared contender against DFL mayor Chris Coleman in November's election. (Filings don't actually open until July 7.)

Krenik said he owned a lot in St. Paul with a family member and that the sale documentation said he was responsible for the first installment of the annual property taxes. He was surprised to find out that the second half hadn't been paid, leaving the property officially in arrears. "I'm very upset about this," he said, when told of the delinquency.

"It's being taken care of right now," he said, rather tersely last night, after confirming that the taxes hadn't been paid.

House Democrats will release budget plan today

Posted at 9:47 AM on March 19, 2009 by Tim Pugmire

House DFL leaders will release their budget proposal this afternoon, a day earlier than expected.

A media advisory sent out this morning says House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Majority Leader Tony Sertich will be available at 3:00 p.m. to discuss budget targets.

Kelliher had earlier said the targets would come out Friday.

UPDATE

Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, the chair of the K-12 Education Finance Division, offered a clue that education funding might come out well in the House plan.

"It's premature for me to talk about the exact targets, Greiling said. "But you could say I have a smile on my face today."

Bachmann's MPR interview

Posted at 9:49 AM on March 19, 2009 by Tim Pugmire

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., talked to MPR's Cathy Wurzer this morning. Here's the audio:

Listen

Source: 'It's not going to be pretty'

Posted at 10:46 AM on March 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck

I'm in St. Cloud covering Vice-President Joe Biden but wanted to pass along some information regarding the DFL House targets that will be released at 3pm.

A source with some knowledge of the targets says the cuts "are not going to be pretty." The source said DFL leadership is still working on the final details but the cuts will range from 2 percent to as high as 9 percent depending on the sector. The source said they're still working on the K12 target and that HHS cuts were in the 5 percent to 7 percent range. The source added that DFLers are keeping the targets "close to the vest" with just a few staffers knowing the full details. DFL House members spent a few hours hashing out the details of the budget plan in a private caucus last night.

The source didn't know the revenue options (tax increases) that are being considered but DFL staffers are already doing spin control preparing for criticism from Gov. Pawlenty. A DFL staffer passed out paperwork that details the revenue Gov. Pawlenty has raised in the past. It says Pawlenty's budgets have forced $2.7 billion in property tax increases from FY '03 to '09. It also says Pawlenty's Health Impact Fee (tobacco tax) raised $869 million from FY '06-FY'09 and there were $850 million in fee increases (not including the Health Impact Fee) from FY '04 -'07.

I'll post more information as it becomes available...

State unemployment hits 8.1 percent

Posted at 10:56 AM on March 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is reporting that Minnesota's unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February. That's more than a half a percent increase from January's job numbers. You can find the details here.

"We're anxious for you to round out the team by the way..."

Posted at 12:23 PM on March 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

Vice-President Joe Biden made that joke after praising DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar during his visit to St. Cloud. Biden was referring to Minnesota's long-running open Senate. A three-judge panel is still reviewing Republican Norm Coleman's court challenge of the recount. Democrat Al Franken led Coleman by 225 votes after the recount.

Comment on this post

MN vote on AIG bonus bill splits along party lines

Posted at 3:01 PM on March 19, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)

The U.S. House vote on the bill to collect big taxes on bonuses paid by AIG and other firms bailed out by taxpayers was 328-93. Minnesota's delegation voted 5 in favor and 3 against. All the state's Democrats were for the bill and all the Republicans voted no.

Overall, 243 Democrats and 85 Republicans voted for the bill. Six Democrats and 87 Republicans voted against it.

The Minnesota vote:

Democrats - Ellison, Y; McCollum, Y; Oberstar, Y; Peterson, Y; Walz, Y.

Republicans - Bachmann, N; Kline, N; Paulsen, N.

Comment on this post

House DFL budget raises taxes by $1.5 billion

Posted at 3:50 PM on March 19, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy

State House DFL leaders released the outline of a budget plan today that cuts spending by $843 million, uses federal stimulus money, includes a $1.7 billion accounting shift in the K-12 education budget, and raises as yet unspecified taxes by $1.5 billion.

Unlike the Senate DFL plan it does not feature across the board spending cuts. Other than the shift K-12 doesn't take a cut under the House plan. The biggest cuts are health and human services spending by 5 percent and local government aid by 7.3 percent.

DFL leaders said the House Taxes committee would fill in the details of the $1.5 billion tax increase later.

Gov. Pawlenty's budget plan doesn't raise taxes and relies heavily on one-time money, including the federal stimulus, a K-12 accounting shift, and a plan to borrow against future tobacco payments.

The Senate DFL plan includes a 7 percent across the board spending cut and $2 billion in unspecified tax increases.

House DFL budget plan

Posted at 5:54 PM on March 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Here's the audio from the news conference:

Listen

I'm told their sending the budget documents over soon. I'll post when I get them.

Here are the documents:

Budget Docs