Stand up for our HERO of Rockville

What would we do without Senator Tarryl Clark (DFL) Saint Cloud? Have more money in our pockets to spend as we see fit. The DFLers insist that they should be the ones deciding how to spend our money. But never mind that issue......FOR NOW!

The St. Cloud Times reminds us everyday just how lucky we are to have Senator Clark representing us in St. Paul. When I saw the headline yesterday Clark's bill makes pitch for more Local Government Aid to Rockville something caught my eye. No mention in the headline of the similar bill (HF1746) in the house. Why? The house bill is sponsored by a Republican.

I spent last Thursday at the capital with Representative Steve Gottwalt (R) St. Cloud/Rockville and I witnessed Steve talking to the mayor of Rockville regarding his bill in the House. The only mention of Steve's bill occurred in the last paragraph of the newspaper article.

• by; Lawrence Schumacher, St. Cloud Times ST. PAUL — When Rockville merged with Rockville Township and the town of Pleasant Lake in 2002, it consolidated services and became more efficient — everything state officials say cities should do, Mayor Brian Herberg said.
  Then, the state cut the state aid the city receives from more than $200,000 to $62,000 this year. Aid will decrease further next year, he told senators Monday.
  Herberg testified in favor of a bill from Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, that would increase Rockville's Local Government Aid by $140,000 in each of the next two years.
  "We did what everybody asked, and we're suffering the consequences as a result," Herberg said.
  The newly merged Rockville opened a new City Hall and a new fire hall at a cost of about $2 million last year.
  Many cities saw their state aid decrease in the first half of the decade, as the state tried to balance its budget.
  Clark's bill would apply only to Rockville, though by law legislators are prohibited from crafting bills for only one city or group. The bill specifies an aid increase for any city that has a population of fewer than 3,000 people as of 2006 and whose boundaries were formed by a merger with another city and a township in 2002. That leaves only Rockville, Clark said.
  The Senate Property Tax division held the bill over for possible inclusion in a big property tax/Local Government Aid bill.
  A similar bill in the House of Representatives from Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, has not yet received a hearing.

It's interesting how this article is designed to make Senator Clark look like a hero for giving more money to the City of Rockville. Could it be that the St. Cloud times wouldn't want to make Gottwalt look good to anybody.

YES

Imagine if the headline had read; Gottwalt's bill makes pitch for more Local Government Aid to Rockville, and then at the end of the story it stated that Clark has a similar bill in the Senate. I don't think that day will ever come.

I personally don't agree with the way LGA is set up, and think cities need to live within their means. However I do understand Rockville is a little limited in their ability to collect property taxes though, so I may make an exception.