John Gunyou on Committee Recommendations

Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou, a member of the bipartisan committee tasked with devising a solution to the state's $1.4 billion budget gap and ending the state shutdown, reflects on the experience and the committee findings.

Katelynn Metz, Patch Staff

Posted Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 8:31 pm CT|Updated Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 5:07 pm CT

Earlier this week, some of Minnesota’s brightest political minds were put together on a bipartisan committee tasked with devising a solution to the state’s $1.4 billion budget gap and ending the state shutdown. Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou was a member of that committee created by former Minnesota politicians Vice President Walter Mondale, Gov. Arne Carlson and U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger.

Today the committee released their recommendations to solve the impasse at the Statehouse and end the government shutdown. Within hours, Gunyou talked with Minnetonka Patch about the committee's process and findings.

The following are excerpts from that conversation.

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THE COMMMITTEE PROCESS

We got together yesterday morning and it all kind of came together pretty quickly. There was a surprising commonality of thinking in the room.

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We were all pretty pragmatic, we didn’t’ look at it from a real political standpoint, but we’re also realists, so we talked through a lot of the options…the framework just made sense.

One of the things we struggled a little with though—I don’t think what we came up with something any of us would have come up with individually, if we were king.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS: DO THEY STAND A CHANCE?

I don’t know if in the end it’s going to make any difference. I hope folks give it some serious consideration…We tried not to come up with things that were so unrealistic that they wouldn’t have a chance. We hope it makes sense and provides a basis for some good discussion.

We thought that if this is going to make any difference, we need to do it quickly…We saw a real sense of urgency…And it’s as good as something that would have taken a week, I think.

THE PROPOSAL INCLUDES A TEMPORARY 4 PERCENT INCOME TAX INCREASE ON ALL MINNESOTANS.

We had a nice long talk about that. Interestingly, everyone was pretty much in agreement…the feeling was that this needs to be shared by everyone.

We knew this is something the Governor would not like. But we did think though that it’s important for everybody to share in it [the burden budget] across the board. Were hoping that it might be a way to address this disagreement about who is paying what share, or a fair share.

We talked about the idea of doing something with the sales tax instead— there was a lot of support on the committee for that. But to introduce that at this point, just introduces a complication that people haven’t had a lot of time to think about.

And there is a hard sunset on [the tax increase]. We thought that it would be an impetus to fix things, certainly not a long term solution, but it does buy a couple of years during which they could put in the sales tax solution. We were looking at the situation of, “What do you do this week?”

The reforms need to be on spending side too...we really saw this [the tax increase] as a two-year buying time in order to do, what I would call, the right thing move.

THE RECOMMENDATION INCLUDED ADDITIONAL TAXES ON ALCOHOL AND CIGARETTES.

We all thought they were a good idea. Those are things that are typically done in times like this…those also have the double effect of deterring people from smoking and drinking. So it not only generates money but also is a way to have a social impact too.

We talked briefly about gambling but none of us is a big fan of taxing there…my reticence is, “Is that really how we want to fund schools—through gambling revenue?” They are also very volatile…that’s not a good base.

The idea of tobacco bonds has also been floated around but it only took about 15 seconds for everyone to say that’s a terrible idea.

THE STATE’S CREDIT RATING WAS JUST DOWNGRADED. CONCERNING?

The rating agencies are sending the signal that this is not the way we should be running the state.

HOW DOES THE STATE MOVE ON?

I think everybody wants this to be done…we all hope, all Minnesotans hope, that we don’t get caught up in this national showdown mentality. It’s unfortunate that compromise is viewed as a negative, that people can somehow not come together on some common ground and, you know, not give a little…we all hope they can get there.

WHAT NOW?

I think we [committee members] consider ourselves out of business…None of us has a lot of time to work on it. It wasn’t something that any of us had on our radar, but when people like those three [Vice President Walter Mondale, Gov. Arne Carlson and U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger] call you to help out, you answer.

But we have no place at the table, this is something that the Governor and legislative leadership need to resolve. And maybe there is enough of a framework there for them to put together.

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Members of the committee included: