The 10/28/09 Star Tribune editorial titled “New energy needed on Park Board” misrepresented my position on taxes and states facts that are incorrect.

As a candidate for Park Board District 6 Commissioner, I discussed with the Strib editorial board the disparity evident in the Park system. My example was about neighborhood residents rallying together to seek funds for a historic foot bridge over Minnehaha Creek and yet there are no funds to replace a boiler in a Phillips neighborhood park building. I suggested that citizens should have the right to vote on correcting inequity in the system by considering a referendum for capital improvements for neighborhood centers. The Strib says that I am “quick to raise property taxes.” This is not a fact.

YES, I am quick to note disparity and I will be upfront with the citizens of Minneapolis that they have the right, the choice and the responsibility to consider voting on a referendum to raise their own property taxes in support of a very real and specific critical need, such as maintaining the infrastructure of our parks. Voters deciding by referendum is a more grass roots approach to taxation than deals made inside city hall.

This discussion was after I highlighted numerous opportunities to offset fiscal challenges such as hiring grant writers, partnering with mission-based agencies like Three Rivers, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Metropolitan Council and to advocate for tax reform that encourages governmental agencies to be economically sustainable and not be punished when they raise complementary funding. We need to continue crafting new paradigms of revenue generation like the Legacy Act for which the Park Board was at the helm in collaborating with multi-jurisdictions and the Park Dedication Fee that the Legislature passed some 5 years ago and yet the City has refused to bring to reality, missing significant opportunities for new revenue to come to our parks. If the revenue streams I suggested are developed, raising taxes could be avoided altogether.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.