Agenda Packets - 1999/08/23 - Laserfiche WebLink

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salaries of state employees performing state functions, for example, the Department of Natural Resources official, the Department of Transportation highway worker, or the Health and Human Services social worker. He stated that the reality of this is over the last 25 years the percentage of the state budget that is actually spent on the salaries and benefits of state employees has shrunk significantly as a percentage of the state budget, and at present is approximately 12 percent. Senator Novak stated the vast majority of state dollars that are collected and spent, are spent on formulas that direct money back to local governments, principally school districts, counties, and cities. He stated the rest of the dollars that generally make up the budgets of local governments are those levied locally through the property tax. He stated that combination of these state general fund dollars and local property tax dollars, along with fees, make up the budgets of local government. He stated, in some people's view,the real growth in government,highly opposes in the 1980's and 1990's,was at the local level,not the state level,and yet,much of the"heat"for this was being taken at the state level. Senator Novak stated this began to play out in campaigns, largely inaccurate, in terms of people defending themselves against attacks on"big government" and what that really meant, and where the growth of government really was. He stated that most objective studies of that period of time indicated there was substantial growth in the number of employees at local levels of government, and not significant growth in the numbers of actual state employees. He stated this data for that comes from the United States Department of Labor and various other national collecting points. He stated he thought, out of that data, came attention that developed particularly with the first state budget crises. Senator Novak stated that the state's word had always been good,in terms of its relationship to local government, and oftentimes the state's promises were high, however, were kept. He noted the increase in state aid to public schools by 20 percent in the 1970's. He stated this was part of the Minnesota Miracle,when they shifted from property tax to income tax and were later criticized for big budget surpluses. He stated that property taxes were relatively low, and the state was pumping money into local governments at significant rates. Senator Novak stated this all changed radically in the 1980's,when there was a reaction against the income tax, which was really priming the pump. He stated, however, people valued how these dollars were spent through state budgets, and that had to be restricted also. He stated that out of a combination of these, came some natural tensions between different levels of governments, and the interactions between governmental units. He stated he believed this was how this happened, as a transition in terms of a historical period of time, and relationships of one level of government to another. Senator Novak stated he thought this situation was getting better, and hoped that continues. He stated that all local levels of government are creatures of state government, and ideally all here to serve the same people. He stated they have different functions, but they all represent the same collective group of people in different combinations of jurisdictions. He stated their ability to coordinate their efforts, and get the best"bang for the buck,"and deliver the most effective services for the least amount of money is what they all should be there to do. He stated he believed they all attempt to do this, however, the different philosophies and approaches on how they direct their 18 C:\ADMIN\MINUTES\CC\8-9-99.CC