School Shift Completely Repaid Thanks to Improved Budget Outlook

This week, Minnesota Management and Budget announced a projected budget surplus of $1.08 billion for the current biennium (fiscal years 2014-15).

The first $246 million of the surplus will be used to pay back the remaining school shift in full thanks to an accelerated repayment plan in the new state budget, leaving a balance of $825 million.
 
When I spoke with voters at their doors and over the phone during the 2012 campaign, Minnesotans told me they were tired of the games and gimmicks that left us with perpetual budget deficits over the past decade. We promised to pay back the school shift and put our state on sound fiscal footing by balancing the budget in a way that was honest and fair. That’s exactly what we did, and as a result, Minnesota’s economy is better off than it was a year ago.

We also recently learned that Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent in October, the lowest it’s been since December 2007 and well below the national rate of 7 percent. Minnesota employers have added nearly 50,000 jobs over the past year, a growth rate of 1.8 percent compared to the national rate of 1.7 percent.

The next budget forecast will be released in February 2014. If the projected surplus holds, my top priority is to repeal a new tax on warehouse services scheduled to go into effect next year on April 1.

I’ve authored a bill that would repeal that tax because I want to make sure we eliminate the financial burden it would put on Minnesota businesses.

If you have any questions or feedback about the new budget forecast, feel free to contact me. You can reach me by phone at (651) 296-7153, by email at rep.jason.isaacson@house.mn, or by postal mail at 545 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.