To the Editor:

I have reviewed Gov. Mark Dayton’s latest budget proposal and found both hits and misses within the plan. There’s more money for education and public safety, but there are huge tax increases on drivers and a huge overall spending increase as well.

Dayton’s General Fund budget would total $42 billion, a nearly $3 billion increase from the previous biennium. But if you take all funds into account, including federal dollars, Minnesota would actually spend $77 billion on state government programs in two years if the Dayton proposal became law.

With a $1 billion budget surplus projected, Gov. Dayton would spend almost all of it. Funding increases for schools and pre-Kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds account for most of the spending. About $93 million would be sent to higher education. Health and welfare programs would receive a $185 million increase, while the judicial system would receive an additional $42 million.

With Jackson County down one judge due to a lack of money in the Fifth Judicial District, that is clearly a need that needs to be addressed.

But I am disappointed with several other areas within the governor’s budget. Agriculture, basically the state’s largest employer, would receive only a $4 million increase for dairy and meat inspections and food safety alignment. The jobs budget would only receive a 1 percent increase under his proposal.

My biggest area of concern centers on transportation. The governor wants to take $9 billion from Minnesotans by raising registration taxes on drivers, as well as instituting another half-cent sales tax in the metro area in order to help pay for modes of transit such as light rail.

But the biggest hit rural Minnesotans would feel is in the 6.5 percent increase on wholesale gas. If implemented, drivers would pay a minimum of 16 cents more per gallon at the pump. And if gas rises again, so too would the amount of the tax. If the base number is $3 per gallon, Minnesotans would pay an additional 20 cents per gallon. At $4, they would pay 26 cents per gallon.

I understand the governor is trying to fill in some transportation holes, but with the unbelievable costs associated with light rail that hole can never be fixed. We’re talking about billions of dollars for future operations and maintenance costs associated with our current light rail systems, which is why some of us our leery about expanding passenger train systems in the metro area.

Make no mistake, not all of that $9 billion would go to roads and bridges because our train obligations will also take some of that money.

State Rep. Bob Gunther,

R-Fairmont