All Minnesota residents deserve safe, healthy lives, quality education, economic opportunities that build safe and vibrant communities. The structures that make this possible don’t just happen. They need to be thoughtfully designed, built and maintained.

Every other year (on odd years), our Governor proposes a budget that makes its way through the state legislature. That budget matches the money our state takes in (through various taxes and fees) with the money it spends. [MN Management & Budget’s State Budget Overview]

You can picture our state’s budget like a tree. The revenue sources (taxes, fees, etc) “water” the budget. The budget “tree” then grows “leaves,” consisting of all of our public structures (health care, safety inspections, schools and courts, etc.). Those “leaves” benefit the greater environment of our state (safety, stability, an educated workforce, etc.). The residents and businesses of our state rely on those benefits to thrive, and then contribute back to the system via the taxes and fees the started the whole system going.

By working with ALL of our communities – especially those who have been historically left out of decision-making process – our state can enact the policy reforms and budget and tax policies that will make our government efficient and effective, supporting the kind of healthy communities that we all want and deserve.