Governor Mark Dayton and Republicans could be headed for a showdown after a group of high-ranking House lawmakers proposed taking 26 million dollars from the Vikings Stadium Reserve Account to build three new veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. Dayton says he strongly supports veterans, but the state’s share to build three new facilities would be 66 million dollars, plus 30 million a year to operate. He says, “They [Republicans] need to come up with the money, otherwise it’s just a political gimmick.”
Dayton says bonding dollars could be used, but Republicans respond the governor’s proposed bonding bill is already way too large. Plymouth Republican Sarah Anderson says about the G-O-P plan, “Anybody that does vote against it, they’ve got their head probably in the wrong place…. That’s just not the right route to go.”
Dayton says about Republicans’ proposal, “Somebody is gonna have to make the decision about which community got that, so the easy way out was to say three. But the finances just aren’t responsible yet, and if they want to do it, then they need to appropriate sufficient money to build them and to operate them.” As for taking money from the Vikings Stadium Reserve Account, Dayton says you never know when that money will be needed and the stadium must have a sound financial cushion.