By Bill Salisbury

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — Gov. Mark Dayton wants Minnesota to embark on one of the state’s most ambitious and expensive public works construction programs ever.

Dayton called Wednesday for borrowing nearly $1 billion this year to modernize state college and university buildings, revitalize downtown business centers and upgrade parks, prisons and other facilities while leaving enough money to complete the renovation of the deteriorating state Capitol building.

He predicted his bonding bill would create more than 27,000 jobs in the state.

“This jobs bill would address many of our critical infrastructure needs while strengthening Minnesota’s economy and getting people back to work,” the Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor said at a Capitol news conference.

It includes $37 million for the Rochester Mayo Civic Center expansion, but other local projects weren’t as lucky. A $500,000 request to extend Blazing Star Trail from Myre-Big Island State Park to Hayward wasn’t included. Neither was Albert Lea’s $7.5-million request to dredge Fountain Lake, though local officials said they will work diligently for its inclusion in the House and Senate bills.

He emphasized higher education and economic development in his plan.

State colleges and universities would be the big winners. The University of Minnesota, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and other schools would share $265 million, or 27 percent, of the $986 million he proposed spending.

About one-third of the money would go to repairing roofs and windows, replacing plumbing and electrical systems and other “asset preservation” measures at existing college facilities. Most of the rest would be earmarked for new classrooms, labs and new technology.

Dayton made his most impassioned plea for $104 million for regional civic centers and other downtown economic development projects.

He called for $63 million for long-sought expansions for civic centers in Rochester, Mankato and St. Cloud; $20 million to revitalize Minneapolis’ Nicollet Mall; $14 million to upgrade and expand the Minnesota Children’s Museum in downtown St. Paul; $6 million to renovate the nearby Palace Theatre; and $7 million to fix up Duluth’s historic NorShor Arts Center.

“Downtown revitalization is crucial to a city’s economic vitality,” he said, but Republican lawmakers have blocked state funding for those projects in recent years.

“I hope they recognize that it is imperative that we make these improvements in our downtown regional centers,” he said.

With the state constitution requiring three-fifths super majorities to approve borrowing, the Republican minorities in the House and Senate have the power to hold back a bonding bill to make sure it holds down spending or has some things they want. DFLers would need the votes of at least two GOP senators and eight House Republicans to send a bonding bill to Dayton for his signature.

Republican leaders were less than enthusiastic about his proposal.

Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said Dayton’s price tag was too high. He said the four House and Senate DFL and Republican leaders agreed last year not to borrow more than $1 billion for public works projects during the current two-year budget cycle. Since lawmakers passed a $156 million bonding bill last year, they would have to spend less than $850 million this year to keep that agreement.

“For the governor to ignore that, I think, shows a pattern that he’s always proposing to spend more than what we should, regardless of what the Legislature might believe to be important,” Hann said.

Rep. Matt Dean of Dellwood, the lead Republican on the House Capital Investment Committee, said the bonding “wish list” is “another example of Governor Dayton asking hard-working Minnesotans to overpay for things they would never buy for their families or small businesses.”

Some projects on Dayton’s list are worthwhile, Dean said, but the state should “focus on taking care of the buildings we already have before literally growing the footprint of government.”

The DFL chairs of the House and Senate capital investment committees gave Dayton’s plan a warmer welcome.