An unsustainable Minnesota budget suggests that the services provided by the state will have to change – the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) is taking a proactive approach to ensure that it has a say in the matter.
Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures and the AMC: Redesign project is hailing its 10-point PACT plan as an audacious out-of-the-box approach.
Wiping County Program Aid (CPA) payments off the books in exchange for a half-percent sales tax?
Handing over all state highway maintenance, save freeways, to counties?
Reducing the size of the state high way patrol by 50 percent and reassigning their duties?
Audacious, indeed.
The AMC says it could potentially save the state nearly $945 million with the ten-step approach meant to redesign the manner in which the state provides many of its services, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
The three aforementioned suggestions provide almost the entirety of the potential savings, accounting for $875 million of the sum.
Information released by the AMC explains the rational behind the steps in brevity:
-The disolution of $600 million in CPA would provide the most significant savings. Rather than the state chip away at the program until its nothing, the AMC Redesign board proposes a .5 percent sales tax that would be optional to counties.
-If counties took over and coordinated state highway maintenance, snowplowing and management of road systems other than freeways, AMC believes that it can obtain efficiencies and rid the state of costly bureaucracy to the tune of $200 million. In addition, the county organization says the practice is proven in Wisconsin, where it is considered very successful.
-It is the stance of the AMC Board of Directors that the highway patrol’s mission is “duplicative” with local governments. It is believed that if local governments take over the patrol function, while the state patrol’s purpose shifts to assisting with major crimes that smaller communities are less qualified to handle, that city and county police departments could coordinate into a single county police unit. The total cost savings is estimated at $75 million.
Additional Redesign ideas include court reform, chemical dependency redesign, the adoption of uniform statewide planning and zoning law as well as others.
The AMC is aware that passing any of the proposals may be a stretch. But in times like these, the Redesign board also recognizes that you have to take some risk and above all get creative.
Minnesota’s Redesign appears to be just beginning.
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An unsustainable Minnesota budget suggests that the services provided by the state will have to change – the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) is taking a proactive approach to ensure that it has a say in the matter.
Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures and the AMC: Redesign project is hailing its 10-point PACT plan as an audacious out-of-the-box approach.
Wiping County Program Aid (CPA) payments off the books in exchange for a half-percent sales tax?
Handing over all state highway maintenance, save freeways, to counties?
Reducing the size of the state high way patrol by 50 percent and reassigning their duties?
Audacious, indeed.
The AMC says it could potentially save the state nearly $945 million with the ten-step approach meant to redesign the manner in which the state provides many of its services, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
The three aforementioned suggestions provide almost the entirety of the potential savings, accounting for $875 million of the sum.
Information released by the AMC explains the rational behind the steps in brevity:
-The disolution of $600 million in CPA would provide the most significant savings. Rather than the state chip away at the program until its nothing, the AMC Redesign board proposes a .5 percent sales tax that would be optional to counties.
-If counties took over and coordinated state highway maintenance, snowplowing and management of road systems other than freeways, AMC believes that it can obtain efficiencies and rid the state of costly bureaucracy to the tune of $200 million. In addition, the county organization says the practice is proven in Wisconsin, where it is considered very successful.
-It is the stance of the AMC Board of Directors that the highway patrol’s mission is “duplicative” with local governments. It is believed that if local governments take over the patrol function, while the state patrol’s purpose shifts to assisting with major crimes that smaller communities are less qualified to handle, that city and county police departments could coordinate into a single county police unit. The total cost savings is estimated at $75 million.
Additional Redesign ideas include court reform, chemical dependency redesign, the adoption of uniform statewide planning and zoning law as well as others.
The AMC is aware that passing any of the proposals may be a stretch. But in times like these, the Redesign board also recognizes that you have to take some risk and above all get creative.
Minnesota’s Redesign appears to be just beginning.
