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Dear Neighbor,
Good news for those who suffered property damage due to this winter?s excessive snow and winds: The Rural Finance Authority Board has declared an emergency for all 87 counties in the State of Minnesota in order to provide relief. This makes zero-interest Disaster Recovery Loans available for Minnesota farmers whose operations have sustained physical property damage or loss of livestock since January 2023.
The Disaster Recovery Loan Program offers affordable financing to clean up, repair, or replace farm structures and replace livestock that may have been destroyed due to high winds and the weight of snow, sleet, and ice this year. The funds are available to farmers for expenses not covered by insurance.
Eligible farmers will work with their local lender to secure the loans from the RFA.
More information, including full eligibility requirements, can be found on the Disaster Recovery Loan Program website.
On a related note, the House this week passed a bill pertaining to RFA, providing $50 million so the Authority may continue offering valuable services to farmers as the state?s main agricultural lending arm ? partnering with private lenders to offer low-interest loans to those eligible.
More disaster relief funding
While relief already is available for people who suffered property damage last winter, the House has made more aid available that could apply to spring flooding that is just starting to impact parts of our state.
The House appropriated $40 million to the state?s disaster assistance contingency account Thursday. The disaster account was becoming depleted and it was important to restore a healthy balance and minimize delays in local communities receiving disaster assistance payments.
Omnibus bill season
Omnibus finance bills have started coming to the House floor for preliminary votes. There are a dozen or so packages to fund various aspects of state government and, together, will shape our state?s budget for the next two years. Bills related to higher education and Legacy Amendment funding were the first two and are, comparatively, among the smaller proposals. Here are quick summaries of each:
The omnibus Legacy bill which received House approval this week totals $821 million, appropriating revenue raised by a three-eighths of one percent additional sales tax that was passed by Minnesota voters in the 2008 Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. Tax revenue is distributed into four funds as follows: 33 percent to the Clean Water Fund; 33 percent to the Outdoor Heritage Fund; 19.75 percent to the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund; and 14.25 percent to the Parks and Trails Fund.
The House also approved an omnibus bill related to higher education this week. I appreciate our state?s colleges and universities, and we need to ensure we?re making the right investments in the right places to help them fulfill their important work. Unfortunately, the bill which passed does more to fund administration than students. For example, the bill provides a $650 million (18.5%) increase in the next biennium as universities across the state are experiencing an average 6-7% drop in enrollment. We need to prioritize funding students? education and keeping them safe, not paying executives.
Watch for more from the House soon as the bigger budget bills start coming to the floor, presumably next week. I remain concerned the House majority?s overall plan to increase state spending by 40 percent is unsustainable.
Sincerely,
Dean
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