MN money: New budget calls for cash to EMS emergency, child tax credits

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Some small changes in Minnesota’s money situation could help address a rural emergency as Gov. Tim Walz proposed about $199 million in new spending Monday, with emergency medical services near the top of the priorities.

Legislators have asked for hundreds of millions of dollars for various new programs, but the governor is focused on just a few.

Minnesota has an EMS emergency. On that, Gov. Walz agrees with the bipartisan group of legislators who declared an EMS emergency last month.

But while they’re asking for a $120 million resuscitation, the governor is proposing $16 million.

"It’s not nearly the amount we need, but this is a really great position to be in having it in the governor's supplemental budget so that when we go into negotiations, we have a place to start from," said Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown.

Sen. Hauschild says EMS companies actually turn a profit on the whole, but that’s often not the case in Greater Minnesota, where help is urgently needed.

"With $3.5 billion left on the bottom line, I’m stunned to learn the Governor wants to pinch pennies before funding emergency medical services for greater Minnesota," said Sen. Andrew Land, R-Olivia. "This is a laughable amount and no one should be proud of this proposal."

But the governor says this isn’t a budget year, so his plan is to triage for now and figure out how to improve the situation by the next budget.

"It is smaller, not because we don't agree that the issue is of that magnitude," said Gov. Walz, D-Minnesota. "We think this does what it needs to do in the short run to get us to the point where we can talk about longer-term funding and solutions."

A permanent solution might involve new taxes.

On the flip side, the governor is offering deeper tax breaks for families.

The biggest piece of his new proposal would go to a $45 million, 4-year pilot program to do advance payments on child tax credits.

Revenue commissioner Paul Marquart says it’ll give low-income families a more consistent credit instead of a yearly lump sum.

"[The] big goal is to make Minnesota the best state in the nation for our kids and families and with that, to ultimately eliminate child poverty," said Dep. Of Revenue Commissioner Paul Marquart.

The governor’s budget also calls for a one-time contribution to teachers’ pension plans, which he says can help attract new teachers and keep the ones we have.

This is all still a negotiation, so the numbers could eventually and even drastically change.