I signed up to speak at and attended the Bloomington Town Hall Hearing on the state deficit.  I waited around for 2-1/2 hours without my name being called.  It seems the time was mostly reserved for special interest groups looking for funding and not citizens with ideas on solving the budget.

The next day I sent a follow-up to Ann Lenczewski who chaired the meeting.

Ann,

Thank you for arranging and chairing the hearing in Bloomington last
night.  Unfortunately I had to leave after 2-1/2 hours and before my
name was called to testify.  It was a very interesting meeting and it
was great to see the turnout.  Below are the bullet points I was going
to present but first some context.

I am a 32 year resident of Bloomington.  I have owned my home for the
last 10 years where I live with my wife and 3 children..  During the
time I have owned my house, my property taxes have increased from
$800/yr to over $3,700/yr.  Last year my home value went down and my
property taxes went up again.  I am opposed to any tax or “fee”
increases to solve the budget problem as my taxes have already
increased too much.

Now some bullet points.

1.  Send Federal stimulus money back to Washington and tell them we
want no part in their plan to leave a bankrupt country for our
children.  It is not a long-term solution.  It is only a temporary
band-aid that will make budgets worse in the future.

2.  Governor Pawlenty’s budget is a good first step.  Remove the
stimulus dollars and any tax or fee increases and it will be a better
step.

3.  In order to find $4-6M to cover the expected deficit, all we need
to do is go back to 2003 spending levels.  I remember 2003 well.  The
economy was growing strong as we were coming out of a recession.  I’m
sure any increase in services since then could be done without.

4.  Eliminating “loopholes” from the tax code to solve the budget
problem is a tax increase — despite what some on the house tax
committee would have us believe.  If you really want to eliminate the
“loopholes”, you should open them up to all of us.

Thank you to all the Senators and Representatives who could come out last night,

Your constituent,

Of course I have not heard back as of yet…