State lawmakers preview session

The two lawmakers said they would return at the end of the session to provide an overview of actions taken that could impact Borderland.

Saxhaug said Tuesday that he and Anzelc “take full responsibility for what happened last year, but we didn’t have a thing to do with it.” He was referring to the agreement between Gov. Mark Dayton and Republicans, which hold the majority in both the House and Senate, that ended the state’s longest government shutdown.

The agreement resulted in the elimination of the homestead market value credit, which Anzelc said was devastating to rural Minnesota in terms of the impact to overall tax capacity.

“I am hearing from people that before the state pays money for anything, they must restore the homestead credit,” said Commissioner Wade Pavleck. “(Elimination of the credited caused) the largest tax increase in the history of this county. People are scared and upset.”

Anzelc told the county board that he will consider it a “good session” if the homestead market value credit is restored and if a large bonding bill is approved. “The bigger, the better chances for your projects,” Anzelc said of the bonding bill.

Also on Tuesday, Dayton released his $775 million bonding proposal for the 2012 legislative session. According to Dayton’s office, the bill would put up to 21,700 Minnesotans back to work by investing in improvements in infrastructure, colleges and universities, and many other regional economic development projects.

But even before next week’s start of the session, party lines appeared to be drawn.

In a statement released in reaction to Dayton’s proposal, Senate Capital Investment Committee Chairman David Senjem, R-Rochester, said, “Senate Republicans appreciate the governor’s focus on jobs and getting Minnesota’s economy back on track, but we fundamentally disagree on the overall philosophy. The purpose and scope of the biennial bonding bill is to repair and build infrastructure, not to serve as stimulus or short-term jobs program. We must be prudent about placing debt burden upon our children and grandchildren.”

Meanwhile, Anzelc and Saxhaug said Tuesday they would vote yes on a proposal for a stadium for the Minnesota Vikings funded by electronic pull tabs, but with as little public money as possible.

“Most of the northern gang feel that way,” said Saxhaug referring to fellow lawmakers from the north. The Vikings proposal and bonding bill will not move forward without bipartisan support, Saxhaug said.

“We don’t want to lose them, but we don’t want to pay for it either,” said Saxhaug of the team and proposed stadium.

The pair said they would support a hunting and trapping season on timber wolves, but said details were important in avoiding a lawsuit by conservationists.

Anzelc and Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, have already announced they would introduce a bill.

“We’ll build on what other states experienced — the good and the bad,” said Anzelc. “The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) know what the conservationists will tolerate and what they won’t and what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will tolerate. We have to figure out what we can pass.”

Other issues discussed at the county board meeting included a push to regionalize county services. Pavleck told the lawmakers that where it makes sense, Koochiching and other northern counties have already regionalized services. Regionalizing services in the smaller southern counties makes sense, said Pavleck.

The two lawmakers encouraged the county board, through its membership in the Association of Minnesota Counties, to band with other counties with 80 percent of presettlement wetlands to seek a bill that would provide relief to some of the state’s stringent rules on development.