About 25 area residents gathered on the Freeborn County Courthouse lawn Wednesday to publicly request that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty veto any tax bill eliminating existing Job Opportunity Building Zones provisions.

During what was dubbed a “Do-over Rally,” House District 25A Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, and Matt Benda, a local Republican, talked of the importance of the JOBZ program in Greater Minnesota and especially in Albert Lea. They also spoke of other areas in the House and Senate tax bills that they think need to be reworked.

Benda said during the last few months, he’s been following what’s happening in St. Paul with the tax bills in both the House and Senate. He started asking questions but kept getting the same answer that the governor would take care of it. He was told there was nothing else he could do.

This motivated him to organize the rally, he said. He noted he invited Brod because she is the highest-ranking Republican on the House Tax Committee, who has often spoken in favor of the JOBZ program.

JOBZ, passed into law by the 2003 Legislature, was launched on Jan. 1, 2004, as a rural economic development program. The goal is to spur economic development activity in rural Minnesota by providing local and state tax exemptions to companies looking to settle in outstate Minnesota.

Though several counties, such as Freeborn County, have been successful because of it, not all lawmakers have been in favor of the program. Some metro lawmakers have proposed it be on the chopping block.

Brod said many Democrats are proposing a revocation of contracts with businesses already in the program, which is something she does not support.

“What kind of message does that send to businesses who want to relocate to Minnesota?” she said.

“Businesses are about jobs, about individuals, about creating strong families in our communities.”

Benda said $50 million in capital investments has been made in Freeborn County as a result of the JOBZ program, and 40 percent of new construction in the county has come from JOBZ projects.

Freeborn County has been one of the leading counties in Minnesota for creating jobs using JOBZ and so far has created more than 600 local jobs in connection with the program.

Brod said she would not agree to anything that repeals the JOBZ program.

District 27A Rep. Robin Brown, DFL-Moscow Township, said she had an amendment on the House floor to remove any changes to JOBZ. She spoke with the Tribune later.

“I understand how very important JOBZ is especially to Freeborn County,” Brown said. “We’ve benefited greatly, especially in light of the Farmland fire and trying to bring back jobs.”

When it came down to the vote of the whole tax bill, however, JOBZ was only a small portion of the 230-some page bill, she said.

“It’s pretty easy to cast a no vote on a bill based on just one portion of that bill, but the omnibus tax bill was over 230-pages long and was multifaceted,” Brown said. “When I looked at that final bill, I looked at that in comparison to the governor’s plan. I looked for benefits. In the governor’s plan, he cut LGA much more deeply than the House plan did.”

She said she supported the House bill because it was fairer on cuts to LGA to cities such as Albert Lea than the governor was. It also had other provisions to support Albert Lea’s hospital, nursing homes and schools, along with provisions for a wind energy production tax that will help keep some of that money local and other areas to help create a better balance for taxes for all people.

“To single out JOBZ as the one reason why you’d vote against it, I think that’s oversimplifying it,” she added.

Regarding other areas of the proposed tax bills, Benda said he wanted to point out that 85 percent of taxpayers will be effected some of the proposed changes, whether that’s through actions such as eliminating property tax deductions, charitable tax deductions, child care deductions or education tax deductions.

He also talked of the proposed fourth-tier for income taxes, which would effect people in Albert Lea, he said.

Brod added 68 percent of the people in the top income bracket in the state are business owners.

She believes in these people, who are innovators and risk takers.

Brod said the economic deficit is not just affecting federal, state and local governments; it’s affecting families and businesses in communities, too.

On the other hand, Brown said she thinks creating the fourth-tier will create more tax fairness to the system.

“I don’t see that as a negative, especially when you consider we’re talking about couples who make $300,000 or more,” she said.