Here’s What We Could Do With Minnesota’s Budget Surplus

There was some good news from the state of Minnesota Thursday, with state officials saying there'll be an extra 1.2 billion dollars in the state coffers for the coming two years. But just what, exactly, should we do with it? 

First, a little background. Now, while I'm not exactly an expert (or even one who's all that good with numbers), BringMeTheNews explained it this way: "Minnesota Management and Budget’s November forecast projects an extra $1.871 billion more in state coffers than expected, meaning lawmakers are likely to once again have extra cash to consider using during the upcoming legislative session." 

The story went on to say, "That will leave about $1.2 billion for the legislators to spend on other areas they feel need extra funding, though this could rise by the time the budget office releases its final forecast in February."

Politicians, of course, are saying we should use that extra money on roads, tax relief or additional funding to local cities and counties. That makes sense, and is probably a good way to allocate the extra funds. Either way, that's a big amount of money to have leftover, isn't it? 1.2 billion dollars?!? That's hard to even wrap your head around.

Here's a way that might put things into perspective and make a little more 'cents.' (see what I did there?). Now, apologies if I made an error on the math, but what about if we spent that money by refunding it to you and me? After all, we ARE the taxpayers, aren't we?

Well, If you take the $1.2 billion surplus and divide it by the 2014 population of the state of Minnesota, which is 5,457,173, that would mean every citizen in the Land of 10,000 Lakes would get $219.89. Hey, that's not too bad! Now, we'd each get even more if we limited our surplus refund to Minnesotans over the age of 18. Then, we'd each closer to $287.43!

Now, I'm guessing that while the latest economic forecast does, indeed, call for a surplus, that amount is actually spread out over the next two fiscal years-- and the taxes the state expects to collect in that time. So, it's not like there's a big pile of Benjamins sitting there at the capitol building in St. Paul the state could just divide up and send out to us, as I've outlined above. So, yeah, don't be looking for that nearly $300 check from the state anytime soon. It's not quite like winning the Powerball lottery, but it's fun to dream, isn't it?