Governor’s $18 million plan would help recruit, retain ‘the best and brightest’
By Bill Salisbury
Minnesota National Guard members would get more tuition aid, re-enlistment bonuses and new tax breaks under a package of proposals Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Friday.
Pawlenty also recommended borrowing more than $6 million to repair and maintain Minnesota’s veterans’ homes and build a World War II memorial on the Capitol Mall.
“The brave men and women who serve in our military sacrifice a great deal on our behalf,” Pawlenty said during his weekly radio show, broadcast from the Mall of America, where he participated in a “Minnesota Says Thanks” event for Guard members. “We need to take additional steps to recognize their commitment and dedication.”
His initiatives would cost an estimated $18 million over the next two years $12 million from the state’s general fund and $6 million as part of a multimillion-dollar bonding bill to fund construction projects.
The Republican governor said he hopes to raise about $6 million for his initiatives by having the state sell a new “Support Our Troops” license plate, with the proceeds earmarked for programs to aid Guard troops and veterans. He plans to hold a contest to choose the design for the new plate.
Asked where he would find additional money for his initiatives when the state is facing a projected $700 million budget deficit over the next two years, Pawlenty said, “We’re going to reset priorities.
“We’re going to fund the things that are really important to Minnesota, and this is priority No. 1.
“It starts with making sure that our public security and safety is protected and that we recognize and reward the brave men and women in our military.”
Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General Larry Shellito said the governor’s initiative “enables me to develop a future.”
The proposed incentives would help the Guard recruit and retain the “best and brightest” soldiers and airmen and women, he said.
The head of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party opposition in the Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson of Willmar, said that while Pawlenty’s initiatives will have to compete for funding with education, corrections, public safety and other needs, lawmakers “want to be as supportive as you possibly can” for the state’s military personnel and their families.
“It’s a very good, positive package,” said Johnson, a National Guard chaplain and brigadier general.
Johnson said, however, that the $6 million Pawlenty expects to raise from selling a new license plate might be overly optimistic. The state currently offers 80 to 90 specialized license plates, he said, and most of them don’t sell well. But he predicted a “Support Our Troops” plate would be popular.
Pawlenty requested $7 million to raise college tuition reimbursements for Guard members to 100 percent of costs, up from the current 80 percent. About 3,000 of the Minnesota Guards’ 13,000 members are collecting tuition benefits, said Lt. Col. Dennis Shields.
The governor proposed re-enlistment bonuses of $1,000 a year, up to a maximum of $5,000, for mid-career Guard members.
He also called for tax changes to exempt Guard members’ active-duty salaries from taxes, provide a tax deduction for travel expenses and make other revisions to conform to federal tax breaks for military personnel.
The Minnesota Air and Army National Guard have led the nation in recruiting and re-enlistments for the past two years, Shields said.
But the state Guard has higher “readiness goals,” Shellito said, and the new incentives would help him retain the more than half of his forces who will have “combat patches on their sleeves” in the next few years.
He said the proposals evolved from suggestions Pawlenty heard directly from soldiers and airmen with whom he visited in Bosnia and Kosovo and those he encountered at ceremonies here before they were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas assignments.
Pawlenty’s request to the Legislature for $675,000 for a World War II memorial on the Capitol Mall reverses a decision by his predecessor, former Gov. Jesse Ventura, who vetoed an appropriation for that project five years ago.
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