The Pioneer Press in a editorial today had a good metaphor for the state's approach to transportation funding under Gov. Pawlenty:
The governor continues to oppose a gas tax hike, unchanged in Minnesota for almost two decades. But he has borrowed extensively for road and bridge projects that used to be built on a pay-as-you-go basis. How is credit-card road construction more responsible than increasing the user fee?
Yeah, he's putting road construction on the credit card and we're not even getting miles.
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Imagine your home baseball team managed by someone whose favorite slogan is “A walk’s as good as a hit!” Asked about a plan to make the playoffs, he says, “Same as last season.”
Except last season your team dropped in the standings.
For most of this decade, that’s how Minnesota has been running its state government — like a former winner now content to finish in the middle of the pack. The reason for these diminished expectations, we are told, is the cost of government services had been growing out of control. Now, we must “live within our means.”
Far from living beyond our means, we have been neglecting the “farm system” of education, health care and transportation that has been the long-time source of our economic success. (The right measure of government spending is proportion of personal income going to state and local taxes and fees. This decade, it's averaged about one percentage point below historic levels.) Meanwhile, conservative team management has been advertising how they held down ticket (tax) prices, as if that will bring in more fans and more revenue. (Of course, they've also tacked a dollar on all concessions, serve cheaper hot dogs and removed the relish, onions and sauerkraut from the condiments station.)
A team that doesn't invest in developing its own talent ends up paying more for it eventually. New York has its A-Rod and Jeter. Minnesota has Mauer and Morneau. Would you trade?
The Twins have been relatively successful not because they spent wildly but because they invested wisely. Putting money into a minor league system and drafting unproven players doesn’t guarantee results, but it’s a better vision than "next season, just like last season."
Some fans of team Pawlenty claim we can use the so-called budget surplus to soften residential property tax increases or to spend on other high priorities. But that's like bringing in an overpriced free agent for a season. It just delays dealing with the real shortcomings.
No team can rebuild power, speed, pitching and defense all at once, and no government will be successful trying to address every need as a top priority. But there's a clear connection between investing, winning and growing revenue to invest some more. Simply watching expenses and limping from year to year is how you get stuck in the cellar.
