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Health & Fitness

Northfield Area Chamber Forum with DeKruif, Woodard

Chamber forum with local legislators

Friday, February 24, I attended the Chamber of Commerce forum with our local state legislators, Sen. Al DeKruif and Rep. Kelby Woodard (although redistricting means neither lives in Northfield's new districts - see ). Northfield News provides video of the presentation.

The conversation was informal and covered a variety of topics of interest to business including:

Commercial property tax: Rep. Woodard would like to see the state general property tax on commercial and industrial property (created in the 2001 tax reform) phased out.  The tax, which also applies to residential recreational property, is forecast to generate $780 million in revenue for 2012; Rep. Woodard did not indicate how that amount would be replaced or cut from the budget.  Removing this tax, which is levied on commercial/industrial property in addition to the property taxes paid to city, county and school district would be an important economic development tool for businesses who also pay a higher tax rate than residential property. 

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Other business-related issues: Sen. DeKruif said he did not think it was the state's business to create jobs, but instead to create the kind of environment for businesses to succeed.  Taxes are one issue, but excess regulation and difficult permitting processes (environmental permits, for example) were cited as another drag on business growth. 

Education: Eliminating teacher tenure (read the bill) and basing layoffs and demotions on teacher evaluations is supported by both legislators who said they are looking for teacher accountability. Sen. DeKruif also highlighted the school he is sponsoring which would allow collaboration among 3 or more school districts in exhange for fewer mandates.

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