American opinion: Delaying investments in Minnesota will be costly
The best time to invest in state-owned infrastructure was two years ago, when the Legislature failed to pass a bonding bill.
Interest rates were lower at the time and so were construction costs. Now, both have skyrocketed.
The Legislature’s inability to agree on a bill will be much more costly if it fails again this year. And we must learn the lessons of the past inaction and pass a smaller, but still critically needed, bonding bill.
The $989 million plan proposed by Gov. Tim Walz in January would allocate about half to shore up state-owned assets like university buildings and prisons as well as consolidating State Patrol operations into one place. The plan also would provide $48 million for a new Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab in Mankato .
Much of the funding addresses deferred maintenance at public buildings that should have been taken care of years ago. Walz and Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Erin Campbell said the investments in state buildings is necessary to keep the state’s Triple A bond rating.
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Rating agencies don’t care about politics. If our buildings deteriorate, they are worth less.
The Walz proposal also allocates about $215 million for water and transportation projects including efforts to eliminate PFAs in drinking water across the state. And while a nearly $1 billion investment last year in housing met some of the needs, Walz has proposed another $45 million in housing infrastructure bonds to build multi-family housing for those facing homelessness.
Legislators have not yet released their bonding proposals, but any bill will need to be bipartisan as bonding requires a three-fifths majority to pass. So far, Republicans seem to be favoring more investments in local communities and things like water treatment plant upgrades.
The reality is that $1 billion a year to shore up state buildings and make sure water is clean and streets are safe is a necessary investment, even with last year’s bonding bill of $2.6 billion that involved catching up from years of neglect. About $1.1 billion of last year’s bill was surplus cash. This year, the bonding capacity is about $830 million, leaving about $150 million to come from the state’s $2.4 billion surplus.
We urge Republicans and Democrats to pass a strong bonding bill including many of Walz’s projects. Every year a bonding bill is not passed costs taxpayers in the long run and put projects further behind.
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