Area representatives support Republican budget proposal

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 5, 2003

State House Republicans released an outline Thursday of their plans for solving the state budget crisis.

The budget holds true to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's in many respects, choosing cuts over tax increases, but it differed in some areas key to rural Minnesota.

The biggest difference is in the cuts to local government aid (LGA). The House Republican's outline eases the cuts by $91 million from Pawlenty's plan. However, because they haven't worked out a distribution system yet, the impact of that on Austin and surrounding communities can not be determined.

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"I certainly stand behind the speaker," Rep. Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea, said about the outline overall. "But there are still some issues I have about the numbers."

He said he wanted to see the cuts eased more than the proposal allowed for. He said that the state could make up some of that money by adjusting or repealing the state takeover of the transit levies.

"We probably need to take a little from LGA, and we probably need to take a little from that transit levy," he said.

Rep. Jeff Anderson, R-Austin, said he wanted to wait before giving an opinion on the LGA cuts.

"I haven't seen the runs of how it would impact the community," he said. "So I'm going to hold off judgment on that until I see what those runs are."

Runs predict the effects of bills and proposals ahead of time to help Legislators make decisions.

The majority of the $91 million dollars would come from a predicted $100 million in revenue from a casino at Canterbury Park, however, the casino bill has not yet passed either the House or the Senate.

Dorman said he has always supported the idea of a casino because he thinks it will open up negotiations with the tribal casinos. Anderson said he does not support the idea of a casino, but said he thinks that it would probably pass.

Another difference between the House Republicans' and the governor's proposal is in the area of health and human services. The House Republicans would spend $70 million more, which would go mainly to nursing homes and senior programs.

The proposal changes very little in education spending. Anderson and Dorman both said they weren't sure about cuts to compensatory aid, and they didn't know of any changes yet. Anderson predicted, however, there would be a decrease of some sort, and said he would push to get as much compensatory money as possible for Austin and the surrounding area.

Anderson and Dorman are both happy that wage freezes for school employees are not a part of the proposal.

"Our caucus didn't support that," Dorman said. "We don't get involved with teachers' contract negotiations. I don't think we should stick our nose in it."

Overall, both legislators supported their party's budget proposal.

Anderson said it demonstrated that citizens' opinions do matter, pointing out changes to LGA and nursing homes in particular.

"It addresses the major concerns I've been hearing," he said. "I think those concerns were heard. I think this shows that the majority is willing to move a little away from what the governor proposed."

Matt Merritt can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:matt.merritt@austindailyherald.com