What should Minnesota do with its budget surplus?
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"Why do we always have to figure out a plan to spend the surplus? Why not put at least 50% in a rainy day fund for the next economic downturn? I live in California want to come back to MN after being gone for 28 years but want to know there is fiscal responsibility and strong political leadership. Thank you." Ron Graham Pacific Palisades, CA
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"Funding public education, including pre-K, K12, and higher ed." — Abeer
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"Increase money available for mental health facilities, mental health professionals and programs across MN. Increase salaries for teachers!!!" — Kari
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"Minnesota roads/bridges/Infrastructure. No light rail not used enough to justify the costs. Lower taxes as Minnesota is one of the highest taxed states. Hold education funding at current level. Screen welfare recipients and cut down on fraud. Use dollars if necessary to do this. Should not be government run facilities performing this work. Too much government and not enough accountability. Zero based budgeting should be practiced." — Laurie Clark
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"Give public defenders pay parity with prosecutors!" — Anonymous
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"I think three important places to invest is (in no particular order) Infrastructure — The least flashy, but there are so many roads that need better maintenance. I live in North Minneapolis, the Theo Wirth parkway is a nightmare to drive on. Education — always important. For me personally, seeing funding for North Minneapolis schools, where many minority children struggle, would be important. Tax refund — While I think this is the least important, it gets lots of positive reaction from taxpayers, and it also placates conservative voters who do make up a good portion of rural/suburban communities, who see higher taxes as a negative. I think giving back some of that taxes makes people feel like you're reaching across the aisle." — Jesse
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"It is likely we will need a rainy day fund in the next recession, which could happen sooner than we expect. There is no down side to having this flexibility, and it will help the state get lower interest rates on bonding projects if we have a good credit rating." — Patrick Tice
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"Single payer healthcare in Minnesota." — Hillary
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"Fix the roads and scrap the new gas tax idea." — Mike Jones
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"Fund schools and teacher support staff. Transit. DO NOT GIVE ME MONEY BACK YOU OAFS." — Matthew
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"Fund the courts. Fund college educations and trade school for qualified persons. Minnesota needs to be in the lead on technology — this is the future for our economy. Establish a system for mandatory liability insurance for all owners of a handgun and ban magazines holding more than 5 rounds and license all handguns. Repeal conceal and carry law." — Mark Anderson
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"Reduce debt! Reduce taxes! Or give it back to the taxpayers ... tax free, we have already paid the taxes on OUR money! Quit living beyond our means." — Anonymous
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"Infrastructure to make sure roads and bridges are safe." — Anonymous
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"We are way behind when it comes to addressing climate change. Education and other important issues are moot if we don't have a planet to live on. Go to climate change... Directly to climate change. Do not pass 'Go' (or anything else). Do not collect distracting issues. Go directly to Climate Change... if it is not too late, already!" — Peter Truitt
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"Put it in a rainy day fund. The surplus is a beneficiary of a booming economy. When the next downturn occurs (soon) the state will need that money." — Karl C.
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"1) Put approx. 30 percent of the surplus to a a rainy day fund. 2) And 20 percent to reduce income taxes due to the federal tax reduction. 3) 35 percent helping the state to fulfill a commitment becoming "green" (non-carbon) as soon as possible. 4) 15 percent children education." — Jerry P.
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"What will have the biggest impact on climate change? Do that and do it now. We cannot afford to wait." — Anonymous
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"Give it back to the people they took it from!" — Steve Peterson
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"Surplus? That's OUR money! They took more than they need, as always. Return it to the people that paid taxes!" — Steven DeWenter
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"Many valid priorities including education. But I really hope that they pass a budget which includes a large pay increase for direct service providers and caregivers for those with disabilities and the elderly. Difficult jobs and nearly impossible to fill those positions with good people when wages are so low! See Best Life Alliance recommendations about this." — Anonymous
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"Fix roads (pot-holes) and what not. More financial aid to schools and to help pay or incentivize housing/healthcare cost for low-income folks." — Anonymous
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"1. More lanes for AUTOMOBILES ALL around the Twin Cities metro area. Traffic is HORRIBLE and will only get worse as our population grows. Special attention/detail to thinking about commuters who go suburb to suburb. 2. We need low income rental housing (apartments, townhouses and homes). Incentives/grants for builders." — Anonymous
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"It's an over payment- not a surplus. Refund it to those that paid it." — Anonymous
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"Property taxes are going through the roof, unbelievable! Cut down on this. Invest in cheaper public transportation from Rochester to Minneapolis, good for the economy. Repair the roads, bridges. Invest in public schools." — Anonymous
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"I've heard many state employees say that their raises are minimal or they're at the top of the salary range — maybe give some of the money back to the hard-working Minnesotans by providing better raises or higher salary caps." — Anonymous
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"They should put the money into improving public transit and consider expanding commuter rail to communities outside of the Twin Cities metro." — Anonymous
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"Our public schools are not adequately funded. As a university supervisor of student teachers, I have witnessed the effects of budget deficits in our schools, impacting both general education and special education. Our students are our most precious natural resource. Our public schools are woefully underfunded." — Jane Harris
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"How about reducing taxes on social security like other states do? We are the highest taxed state in the country. I worked all my life to save for retirement and now we are being double taxed on our retirement income by Federal and State. Almost 90 percent of my Social Security income is taxed. Retired people are living on fixed income such as Social Security and IRAs and paying high taxes on them as well as paying high property taxes. We are the highest taxed seniors in the country." — Michael Gallo
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"Education. Education. Education." — Anonymous
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"I’d love it if the surplus could go toward funding teachers and classrooms, particularly in under-resourced neighborhoods. What a wonderful opportunity we have!" — Ian McConnell
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"Appropriately fund education with a formula that respects the needs of urban, suburban and rural districts." — Kaye Peters
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"Save it. The economy will eventually struggle and it is good to have some in the bank.Families don't give back if they don't spend everything, they put some in the bank." — James Stock
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"I believe that much of the money should go to infrastructure outside of the cities. Any remaining funds should go to schools for use as they see fit, as well as taking care of Minnesota’s remaining debt." — Georic Musser
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"Close the K-12 education gap between white students and the Minnesotan black, Latino and Native American students. Provide whatever additional tutoring or bilingual teachers are needed to equalize educational outcomes." — Margaret Villanueva
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"Fully fund K-12 education and invest in suburban transit projects." — Matt
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"1) Put it into schools and teachers. 2) Use it for health care. 3) Roads and bridges." — Marie
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"How about actually doing something about the epidemic MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) and human trafficking issue in Minnesota? Let's be a leader and advance work that positively impacts sexual and domestic violence in an effective way and recognize the ways in which our state contributes to the problem instead of heals the problem. We love to be leaders — well, let's lead then." — Susan
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"Complete the section of Highway 14 from Nicollet to New Ulm that has been in the works for years but there is never enough money allocated to roads. The project was passed over in the funding last year in favor of metropolitan roads." — Ann Iverson
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"Funny how everyone wants to spend it on something right away. Why not save it for the impending recession that will be courtesy of the current national economic policy." — Anonymous
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"Education, split 50:50 between K-12 and the University System." — Dave
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"Increase funding for elementary and secondary education." — Scott Hume
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"Use some of it to replace the $100 million the feds are not giving us for the health care program." — Anonymous
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"I think the money should be used to build more homeless shelters in the Twin Cities and more affordable housing for low income families." — Ben Ellis
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"Give some back to Minnesota people in form of tax stimulus checks!" — Jacqueline
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"Health care cost management as I just heard we lost $100 million in federal funds for our low income rebate program." — Colleen Dillon