Letter: Are these layers of government needed?

To the editor,

On Sept. 18 I attended an informational meeting by the Metropolitan Council at the Dakota County Westcott Library. Met Council representatives for Eagan were in attendance as well as many Dakota County officials. The focus of the meeting was the Met Councils vision of a seven county plan which would extend to the year 2040. After listening to the presentation and reading the handout provided, I had a number of observations.

The Met Council appears to me to be yet another layer of government making critical decisions regarding the future of our state. This body has morphed way beyond the original intent of managing regional water and waste issues, and is now firmly sandwiched in between our municipal, county, state and federal political units. From an economic standpoint and particularly in this recession, it seems to me that the annual Metro Council budget could be pared down with some of the money and responsibilities going back to the state, counties and cities and possibly private companies. My reasoning is that we already have elected officials in established levels of government and in addition, some functions such as transportation could be privatized. Do we really need another government entity with the additional overhead?

Priorities listed in the “Thrive MSP” printed piece were very revealing. “Mitigating economic and social disparities through regional investments” and “Create policies that address equity” were just two priorities that sounded as though they came directly from the “spread the wealth crowd” in Washington. The additional taxes and borrowed money from China needed to support these priorities will be a burden not only to the taxpayers, but will also bedevil the wordsmiths as they try to convince us that Minnesota is a freedom loving state and is open for business expansion.

Don DeGenaro

Eagan

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