Republicans say a legislative auditor’s report reveals the Metropolitan Council told the legislature they had an 85-million-dollar operating deficit, but in efforts to gain funding for Southwest Light Rail, reported a 152-million-dollar budget balance to the federal government. Representative Linda Runbeck from Circle Pines decries what she calls “the audacity of Met Council to cry ‘wolf’ all spring long, that they were going to have to cut back transit, Metro Mobility.” D-F-L Senator Scott Dibble from Minneapolis responds Republicans are using a technical discrepancy in numbers “to obfuscate and mislead the public on their decision to effectively gut transit operations in the metropolitan area by… 25… to 30 percent.” Dibble accuses Republicans of using the money for tax breaks for the wealthiest Minnesotans and corporations.
More in this interview with Runbeck:
…and with Dibble: