MN city proposes settlement in muni-network debacle

By   /  June 17, 2013  /  City Government, Featured, Minnesota, News  /  2 Comments

MN Fibernet Muni-Broadband Network offers  bondholders a haircut to settle potential class action lawsuit.

The city of Monticello has proposed buying out bondholders of the troubled municipal Fibernet broadband network for $5.75 million, plus an estimated $3 million in escrow funds, to settle an impending class action lawsuit, Watchdog Minnesota has learned.

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Hundreds facing financial losses from MN muni-broadband network

By   /  June 14, 2013  /  Minnesota, News  /  1 Comment

Sen. Al Franken, D-MN was among those who championed the  Fibernet Monticello muni-broadband network that's defaulted on bondholder payments. City of Monticello photo.

By Tom Steward | Watchdog Minnesota
Bill McKenzie’s email was short and to the point.
“I am (an) individual bondholder.  Why doesn’t the city go to the reserve funds and pay the bond interest due on these bonds?  You are hurting bondholders who loaned the city this money,” McKenzie wrote in frustration.
The plea went out last week [...]

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Even in down year, MN taxpayers feel mosquitos’ sting

By   /  June 12, 2013  /  Environmental, Minnesota, News  /  1 Comment

THE ENEMY: Despite a late start, the threat assessment remains grim from persistent rains that have restocked mosquito breeding grounds in an area that includes 900 lakes and 190 towns and cities.

 
By Tom Steward | Watchdog Minnesota
ST. PAUL — In Minnesota, you can add mosquitoes to death and taxes to Ben Franklin’s proverbial list of the inevitable.
Make that a mosquito tax that takes a nearly $17-million bite annually out of taxpayers’ pocketbooks in the Twin Cities metro area — even in a year with an exceptionally cool spring [...]

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Taxpayers burned as NEA-funded art goes up in flames

By   /  June 10, 2013  /  Minnesota, National  /  No Comments

Taxpayers Burned Again: NEA grant for Minnesota artist to build and burn a model on 50th anniversary of Breuer home.  Northern Spark photo.

By Tom Steward | Watchdog Minnesota
ST. PAUL—It wasn’t long ago that burning works of art, whether books or otherwise, was frowned upon. But it was in vogue for at least a few minutes at 2 a.m. Sunday in St. Paul when a Twin Cities sculptor’s life-sized model of a local Marcel Breuer-designed house went up in [...]

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Will $80 million windfall end in tax relief or government spending spree?

By   /  June 6, 2013  /  City Government, economic development, Featured, Local Government, Minnesota, News, State Government  /  No Comments

$80 Million in New State Aid:  Legislators say at least half should go to property tax relief, while cities appear poised to spend it on projects like this arts center in Hopkins. Arts Center Photo.

It’s an irresistible government program, and those who fall under its influence are much like characters from “The Lord of the Rings.”

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