Wet houses seen as part of budget solution
Tight budgets have county and state officials looking for ways to deal with frequent fliers, or repeat offenders cycling through the court system for low-level felonies and gross misdemeanors -- many because of chemical dependency (Austin Daily Herald).
The Herald also reports that in 2007, Mower County spent a record $200,000 on chemical treatment for repeat offenders. The southern Minnesota county has been able to bring those costs down in part by providing homeless alcoholics public housing that tolerates drinking. The Pioneer Press reported that a homeless alcoholic can end up costing tax payers one million dollars when you add up jail time, treatment and other social services. The same report cites surveys that indicate the wet house approach can cut costs by 50 - 75 percent.
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Mower County is hoping to utilize a wet house that's being built in nearby Olmstead County.
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Should Minnesota lawmakers pass a plan to cut public benefits too?
Sometimes the topic at Insight Now is straight ahead without needing to do much explaining. Instead, we'll let Minnesota Public Radio News reporter Tim Nelson explain the proposal before Minnesota lawmakers on worker benefits.
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Nelson reports that two Republican state senators want to increase the contribution of some public workers by more than half. He writes:
"It calls for the state -- as well as cities, counties and school districts -- to cut pension contributions by 3 percent across the board. Employees would make up the difference out of their own pockets, to keep the pension system whole."
The choice for Sen. Mike Parry of Waseca is simple: He'd rather make employees pay more of their pension plan than cut jobs because of the state's multi-billion budget deficit.
Union leaders say this amounts to a unilateral pay cut. And they say that public employees here, unlike their Wisconsin counterparts, already kick in between "5 to 10 percent of salaries" toward pensions.
Two questions: Why shouldn't public employees have to kick in more for pension benefits when the state runs a recession? Why wouldn't raising taxes on Minnesotans be an alternative to such a proposal?