Wadena Mayor says bill that penalizes cities for flying old state flag is unconstitutional

WADENA, Minn. (KVRR) – A new bill has been introduced in the Minnesota State Legislature targeting cities flying the old Minnesota state flag.

If passed, the bill would direct the Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue to cut aid to any city or county flying any flag other than the official state flag by ten percent.

Wadena never flew the new state flag, choosing to continue using the old after the Mayor received feedback from his constituents.

Mayor George Deiss says there’s no statute on what flag should be flown, if any, and that these cuts to aid would have huge impacts on his community.

“It would probably cause our property taxes to double. Our state legislators thinking that they should use local government aid as a way to force cities into flying a new flag, well basically it’s unconstitutional,” Mayor Deiss said.

Detroit Lakes Mayor Matt Brenk says he believes the city wouldn’t be affected by the legislation because Detroit Lakes has opted not to fly either version of the state flag.