A puzzle and key
To the editor:
The challenges described on previous editorial pages include our state’s aging (and retiring) workforce, the chance to consolidate some local services between municipalities and school districts, and continuing increases in medical expenses, education costs, and a downward trend in average incomes. These very factors may be opportunities for us to design our state smarter, without making life harder. The wealth, if you will, of talented, retired people can be a community asset we might well find ways to use. The ability of local units of government service to collaborate and share seems like an idea whose time has come. And the challenges of spiraling expenses for health and schools while we make less money stand as stimuli to all our creative juices.
In redesigning Minnesota, we can shift our tax policies to reflect the values of equality, we can continue to create new, accessible ways to be healthy, and develop our futures in ways not limited to accumulation of wealth in the hands of the lucky few. The picture is a both puzzle and key.
Paul Hoffinger
Eagan
