Update: Panel Offers Alternative Plan to Break State Budget Stalemate
Roseville's John Marty says plan from blue-ribbon group worthy of consideration.
At the end of the first week of the Minnesota government shutdown came this alternative plan: $2.2 billion in permanent cuts, $1.4 billion in accounting shifts and $1.4 billion in new revenue — including a temporary, across-the-board 4 percent tax increase on personal incomes. Those are the proposed recommendations from the independent panel of Republicans, Democrats and policy experts who came together to solve Minnesota’s budget impasse. The bipartisan committee tasked with creating a so-called third alternative issued its recommendations Thursday afternoon to Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers. In a two-page document, the committee outlines a framework for closing the $5 billion deficit by balancing 70 percent of it through …
