PoliGraph: Checking Senate Office Building claims
[image]
Get ready to hear a lot about a proposed Senate office building this election season.
Republicans are using the project as a way to highlight wasteful spending among their DFL counterparts.
Senate Democrats say the space is badly needed to accommodate members of the chamber.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Because it’s shaping up to be a major campaign issue, this week’s installment of PoliGraph will look at two claims made about the new construction.
First up, this statement from Republican state Rep. Kurt Zellers, who is seeking his party’s endorsement to challenge Gov. Mark Dayton this fall.
“The $90 million dollar Senate Legislative Office Building and parking ramp the Democrats snuck through the legislature last year is a disaster zone of reckless spending, and Governor Dayton and the DFL-controlled legislature think it’s a good idea,” Zellers wrote in a fundraising letter. “We’re already one of the highest taxed states in the U.S., and yet Governor Dayton just keeps adding to the tab by allowing our tax dollars to be used to build a $90 million complex that won’t even hold all the senators it’s being built for.”
Parts of Zellers claim are right, other parts are overstatement.
The Evidence
Last year, language in a tax bill passed by both chambers and signed by Gov. Mark Dayton authorized the Senate Office Building. A separate bonding bill required that both the House and Senate rules committees approve the final building plan.
It’s important to note that neither bill appropriated money to pay for the building or stated how much the building would cost. That figure came after the fact when the Department of Administration issued their proposal for the structure.
There’s a lot in Zellers’ statement, so we’ll take it apart piece by piece.
“$90 million dollar Senate Legislative Office Building” – The building itself is projected to cost $75.8 million. A parking lot that is not required by the authorizing legislation will cost an additional $13.6 million.
“Governor Dayton and the DFL-controlled legislature think it’s a good idea” – This is an overstatement. Neither Dayton nor state House leadership have completely rejected the idea, but they have some reservations. Dayton says that the current proposal is “overly lavish” and supports a scaled down version of the building. Meanwhile, house DFLers have asked the administration department to see if there are alternatives for the Senate and that they will wait to approve the proposal until the Minnesota Supreme Court rule on the constitutionality of how the building was funded.
“Dayton just keeps adding to the tab by allowing our tax dollars to be used to build a $90 million complex.”- Financing the new building and the parking facility isn’t as cut and dry as appropriating $90 million in taxpayer dollars to pay for the building as Zellers makes it seem. Instead, the state would issue bonds to pay for the facility, and the Legislature would rent it from the state using an annual appropriation from the state’s coffers. Think of it as paying monthly rent on your apartment to a landlord.
The new building “won’t even hold all the senators it’s being built for.”- Right now, the proposed office building is set up for 44 Senators. That’s a sticking point for House Rules Committee, which wants the structure to accommodate all Senators.
The Verdict
On the whole, there's truth to Zellers’ statement.
But it deserves some context.
First, his claim risks leaving the false impression that the state has already approved $90 million to pay for the new building. In fact, the proposal is still under negotiation and financing for the structure is more complicated than a simple appropriation.
Secondly, he makes it seem as if Dayton and DFL lawmakers are united on the current proposal. They are not. Both Dayton and the House have reservations about the plan, but haven't panned it completely.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Curtis Yoakum, Minnesota Department of Administration
Zander Abrams, Kurt Zellers for Governor
John Pollard, Minnesota Management and Budget