[Mpls] Republican Views of Minneapolis

[David Brauer]

Vicky writes:

> Don't forget that
> Governor Pawlenty sent $80 million to Minneapolis last year to "help" with
> the Convention Center debt.  

This is incorrect. There was no state appropriation for the Convention
Center last year.

The state approved $87 million in 1998 for the Convention Center's expansion
- but that was two governors ago (remember Arne Carlson?).

And if you think the $87 million is generous, it's the only money the state
has ever appropriated for the Minneapolis Convention Center - about 20
percent of the cost. Minneapolis taxes (mostly the half-cent local option
sales tax) pay for the other 80 percent.

In fact, before the late 1990s expansion, the Minneapolis Convention Center
was the ONLY major convention center in the nation built ENTIRELY with local
money. So much for the generous state.

And even with its seven-year-old contribution, the state shortchanges
Minneapolis compared to other Minnesota edifies.

For example:
Duluth Convention Center - 100 percent paid for by the state ($17 million of
$17 million).
St. Paul hockey building - 50 percent paid for by the state ($65 million of
$130 million).
Minneapolis Convention Center - the one most likely to draw in
out-of-state-bucks, rather than redirect money within Minnesota - 20 percent
paid for by the state.

The rationale for state support of the convention center is because it reaps
the windfall of any out-of-state spending. It gets 6.5 of the 7 percent
sales tax, and unlike the city, the state gets the Minnesota income taxes of
any worker whose job exists because out-of-staters spend money here.

It's another way Minneapolis subsidizes the state.

David Brauer
Kingfield