A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The provider tax is not ideal, but MinnesotaCare should have an assured source of funding that can't be diverted to other purposes. Wages should be sufficient to enable full time workers to keep a roof over their heads. More and more working families cannot afford housing at market rates. The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency is well equipped to help local communities and developers build more affordable housing, but the agency needs more resources to meet rising demand.
Funding is needed to continue progress toward preparing the building and opening the center.
Minnesotans expect responsibility and accountability from individuals and organizations that receive public funds. This includes firms that are publicly subsidized through grants, low-interest loans, tax deferrals and other means. The Metropolitan Council is shaping the future of the Twin Cities and their suburbs with decisions about highways, mass transit, sewers, airports, parks, air and water quality, waste management, land use, housing, health care, services to the aging and other important matters. Democracy and accountability suffer when such critical public decisions and hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds are entrusted to an unelected body. The citizens affected by council decisions have a right to elect the decision makers.