TO THE EDITOR:
Nursing homes across Minnesota are in the midst of a full-blown crisis and the entire system is on the brink of collapse in a way we have never seen. Facilities across Minnesota are struggling to stay afloat and retain talented staff. In the last few years, roughly 50 nursing homes have closed and more are certainly on the way without urgent action. Democrats resisted urgent action all session. The Democrat Human Services omnibus budget bill provided $100 million in loans to nursing homes this year. For comparison, last year Senate Republicans in the majority approved $1 billion in nursing home assistance, but Democrats in the House and Governor Walz rejected it. Minnesota Democrats have demonstrated time and again they do not care about helping nursing homes who care for our parents and grandparents. Republicans stood firm and successfully secured $300 million in emergency assistance to rescue many nursing homes from closure over Democrat objections. The deal includes direct grants, wage increases, and a workforce incentive fund that adds up to about $1.1 million for every nursing home in the state, in addition to the $100 million in loans the Senate approved recently. While Democrats raised taxes and used the $19 billion surplus to funnel money to special interests, promote their extreme agenda, and massively grow government, Republicans remain steadfastly focused on the items that matter to Minnesota families.
Eric Lucero
Minnesota State Senator
TO THE EDITOR:
Recently, there was a letter to the editor referring to a tax abatement granted to Beaudry Oil and Propane. Although reasonable people can disagree about Tax Abatements, I am writing to clarify some of the assertions made. Beaudry is not building a facility to change oil on vehicles of any kind. They are building a “warehouse” to store Lubricants, as we are a distributor. We will not be taking business away from local Auto shops. In fact, we supply many of them. That is one reason we need additional space. We are growing. As I understand it, the reason for the owner of Beaudry to request the tax abatement is the land proposed is “undesirable to build on” having no particular use prior to this development. Many companies, once aware of obstacles associated with it, declined to move forward with their plans. This community had been looking for a buyer for this property for years with no suitors until now. The tax abatement helps Beaudry improve the site, add jobs and ultimately increase tax revenues for the county. As a Beaudry employee, I felt the need to explain these details as the letter from Mr. Collier, though thoughtful, was incomplete.
J. Brian Calva
Elk River
