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The Victoria Gazette Archives

Past issues are pushing up daisies at

www.VictoriaGazette.com

STATE REPRESENTATIVE PAUL KOHLS

“MnDOT STILL DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY”

Minnesota State Representative Paul Kohls spoke to Victoria City Councilmembers on Thursday, August 28th, about state finances and State Highway 5 through Victoria.

“I’ve got breaking news,” he began. “I will not be John McCain’s running mate. I’m happy to represent Victoria. Thank you for the support.”

He referred the state’s $35 billion budget. “Everyone is well aware of the economy,” he said. “People are pinched. State expenditures are not what we expected them to be. What we hadn’t done is address underlying long term problems ...

“We’re projecting a $1 billion to $2 billion deficit in the next biennium. This is an opportunity for the legislature to take a closer look. We’ve got two choices, reduce spending or raise taxes, and neither are fun choices. I’d like to take a sharp knife to some of the programs ...

“About a month ago I sat down with Mayor Thun and Councilmember Roden and last week your mayor was at a meeting with MnDOT present. MnDOT still doesn’t have enough money to get everything done. I want to make sure we’re not forgotten here and that Highway 5 is seen as a priority. We need safety and capacity improvements to Highway 5.”

Responding to questions from Councilmember Roden, he stated, “We certainly need to do some things to enhance the budgeting process. It’s a law of nature that we’re going to take the time we have to get something done.”

Councilmember Roden asked if the state sales tax will be increased. Stated Representative Kohls, “I think it will absolutely be considered. There are policy reasons for expanding that base and tracking it to companies outside the state, for example ... But I don’t believe the State of Minnesota doesn’t have enough revenue.”

Asked Councilmember Tim Amundsen, “Why can’t the state and federal governments do a budget like we do? We’re transparent.”

Replied Representative Kohls, “Clearly at the federal level there’s a lot more earmarking than at the city. There needs to be more transparency at the federal level. There is corruption there. One person’s earmark is another person’s need and priority. I think the state system works pretty well with our bonding process. I do think, however, we are not sufficiently transparent on our overall budget. For example, County Attorney Keehler can’t find out where the legal pads are purchased.”

CARVER COUNTY ATTORNEY JIM KEELER

AND THE ‘09 PROSECUTION CONTRACT WITH VICTORIA

“It’s been a busy and interesting year,” said Carver County Attorney Jim Keeler. “I’m here to talk about our ongoing contract for prosecution services.” It’s time for the City of Victoria to approve the 2009 Prosecution Contract whereby the Carver County Attorney’s Office provides prosecution services.

He said that in the past, contract amounts depended on caseload statistics from the previous year, which sometimes caused spikes for city budgets. This year he proposed using a three-year average of caseloads. In Victoria, that three-year caseload average is 88, and it represents 7.6% of the total number of cases that the county handles under the prosecution initiative. The county’s three-year average is 1,157.

For the sake of comparison, Chaska’s three-year average is 650; Waconia’s is 155; NYA is 115; Carver is 42; Cologne is 16. There are ten contracting cities in Carver County. Only Chanhassen is not participating.

Total cost for the county to prosecute the total caseload of cities in a year is $203,162. This expense is equal to the salary and benefits of three employees -- two attorneys and one legal secretary. The ten cities pick up 32% of that total. And the City of Victoria picks up 7.6% of that third.

Click here for the Bottom Line.

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