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Local Minnesota Legislators React to Projected State Budget Deficit of $5 Billion

By Derek Sidian Dec 5, 2024 | 9:51 AM

Representative Jeff Backer and Senator Jordan Rasmusson

St. Paul, MN – Local state legislators are blaming Democrats after a future budget projection reveals a $5 billion deficit through the 2028-29 biennium.

On Wednesday, December 4th, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released its annual November budget forecast, providing information and an outlook for the state’s financial picture. The latest forecast shows a meager $616 million surplus at the end of 2026 and a massive $5.1 billion deficit by 2029. The forecast numbers do not account for any new spending, meaning that new spending bills passed in the next legislative session will further increase the deficit down the line.

“Under one-party control, Democrats have raised taxes by $10 billion and increased our state budget to unprecedented and unsustainable levels,” Senator Jordan Rasmusson (R-Fergus Falls) said. “This fiscal mismanagement has put Minnesota on a course toward future budget shortfalls exceeding $5 billion. Minnesotans deserve better from their government, and we cannot afford to continue along this path of reckless spending.”

State Representative Jeff Backer (R-Browns Valley) said this underscores the need for balance after Democrats used full control of the Capitol to spend the state’s previous $18 billion surplus, raise taxes by $10 billion and increase the state budget by 40 percent with the budget they set in 2023.

“Today’s news makes clear that a course correction is needed ASAP to put Minnesota’s fiscal and economic outlook back on the right track,” said Representative Backer. “With full Democrat control of St. Paul coming to an end in January, the years of automatic spending increases, thousands of new government employees, and billions of dollars lost to waste, fraud, and abuse are over. Minnesotans voted to return commonsense to St. Paul and that’s exactly what House Republicans will bring.”

Democratic Governor Tim Walz responds the state has a balanced budget right now, and there’s time to fix the problem, “This is not a ‘rainy day.’ This is a(n) over-the-horizon budget issue of growing costs in an aging population and more people accessing services, especially around autism.”

In the past decade, Minnesota’s government budget has nearly doubled from a $39 billion general fund budget in 2014 to $71 billion in 2024.

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