
Red Wing Mayor Mike Wilson has vetoed the budget and levy that the Red Wing City Council approved Monday night.
In a press release, Wilson says...
"I am vetoing City Budget Resolutions 7708 and 7709.
Red Wing working families and seniors deserve a tax cut – not an irresponsible and unnecessary tax increase.
In these challenging economic times for working families, by approving a 3% levy increase which equals $686,00 to go towards $727,000 in additional spending the Red Wing City Council has acted wrongly and without regard for the folks who pay the bills.
The Council continues to ignore the fact that Red Wing has approximately $23 million in reserve – more than twice the amount the Minnesota League of Cities recommends for a city of our size. That is more than enough to operate our city for an entire year if no one paid a dime in taxes. And still, they have voted to raise taxes.
Moreover, Minnesota now projects a budget surplus of $7.7 billion dollars. No Minnesotan should be paying one more penny in additional taxes!
The City of Red Wing will soon receive $863,467 from the federal American Rescue Plan.
As Mayor, I call on the Council to work with me to cut taxes for working families and seniors by at a minimum the amount of the federal supplement - $863,467. We will still have plenty of funds left over for projects essential to our economic growth and development. Pet projects can wait. We have more than enough trails and parks to meet present needs.
Again, I ask the City Council to work with me to cut taxes for Red Wing residents while developing incentives for new businesses, and for existing businesses to expand.
In these tough economic times, working families need to keep as much as possible in their personal reserves, circulating what they can into our home grown businesses – not sending it to government."
The City Council will address a possible override of the veto during Monday nights meeting.
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