Tweet

About the Report

Minnesota is a great place. Home to 10,000 lakes, the nation’s highest per capita number of Fortune 500 companies and an unparalleled civic spirit, Minnesotans can accomplish almost anything with our unique mix of compassion, creativity and ingenuity. Just imagine what could happen if we applied this same spirit to the state’s structural budget challenges. As six Foundations committed to the future of our state, we have come together to explore this very idea.

Our challenge to Minnesota’s decision makers, businesses and citizens is simple: Imagine Another Way. Imagine a budgeting conversation that moves beyond the polarized battles of raising taxes versus cutting services. Imagine a thoughtful approach to redesigning our public services that focuses every tax dollar invested to generate the best possible outcomes for Minnesotans, rather than maintaining processes designed by past generations for a passed world.

The following report, Beyond the Bottom Line, offers 16 ideas that could help our state’s leaders do just that. We commissioned Public Strategies Group to draft these recommendations, which build upon a report of nine redesign ideas suggested in the 2009 report Minnesota’s Bottom Line. Each idea offers a starting-point for discussing new ways to think about Minnesota’s budget problems that can offer real, immediate cost savings while preserving the state’s most essential services.

We have commissioned these ideas because we recognize that we cannot solve our state’s structural budget problems unless leaders of all politics and persuasions are ready to consider new approaches – and no one can do this alone. But we hope that they are a starting point for conversations in Minnesota’s legislature and in communities across the state.

Whether leaders embrace one or all of Beyond the Bottom Line’s ideas, we hope that they will serve as a clear illustration of the three key principles we hope will guide our state’s budget conversations:

• Make Strategic Choices. Prioritization is a critical element of government redesign, from assessing the highest public needs to evaluating the best way of providing services.
• Innovate. Governments need to think long-term with their budget challenges, and to be willing to toss out the old rules and try new program structures and delivery systems.
• Deliver Better Outcomes. Paying for processes and continuing with the current results won’t be enough. Minnesotans want their government to get the greatest possible outcome for every tax dollar they spend.

From these principles, we believe Minnesota’s leaders can find a common ground to address our budget challenges with an eye toward the goal we all share: creating the best possible future for all Minnesotans.