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The good and bad in Minnesota budget

Legislative negotiations on finalizing budget targets are getting down to the nitty-gritty. All sides have been reaching out to the public and the media in soliciting support for their proposals.

Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Gent, sent out a press release Wednesday urging Gov. Mark Dayton to work with the legislative leaders to reach joint agreement on budget targets by today. Swedzinski said legislative leaders agreed to and met Dayton’s requests to pass budget bills by March 31 and establish legislative targets by April 28.

“We held up our end of the bargain by providing preliminary approval of a complete state budget three weeks earlier than usual,” Swedzinski said. “Minnesotans are relying on us to pass important bills such as tax relief and investments in roads and bridges, but we need the governor to quit dragging his feet and become involved for that to happen.”

Dayton, on the other hand, doesn’t like everything he sees in the Republican proposals. He has requests of his own. And he does have some clout. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday that the governor enters the final 18 months in office with the highest approval rating of his tenure at 62 percent.

Overall, it does appear Republicans are pushing proposals that favor rural communities. That is good news for Southwest Minnesota, which has been on the short end of the stick in the past. But not all of the proposals offered by Republicans are good for Southwest Minnesota.

Here’s the good and the bad:

• The Republicans reduced their planned spending on nearly all state programs so they could deliver on short-term and long-term tax cuts in a variety of areas. The single largest cut would be $236 million on tax savings for people who receive Social Security payments. The Republicans also agreed on a $162 million in estate tax cuts and $126 million in business property tax cuts.

Tax cuts would be good for rural Minnesota’s economy.

• While Dayton has proposed hefty spending increases for education, the Republicans are way more conservative. The Republicans are proposing $302 million for public schools and $125 million for state colleges and universities. That is half of what Dayton has requested.

The Republican plan is not being real generous toward the outstate public school system . Most of the new dollars for public schools are expected to go toward per-pupil funding formula. Districts would be looking at 1.5 percent increase each year. They were hoping for 2 percent increase.

The new higher-education spending is far lower than the state colleges have requested, and it comes with a mandate that four-year schools freeze tuition and two-year schools reduce tuition by 1 percent for the coming year. This would probably dramatically hurt state colleges that will have to cut programs if the state lowballs them and won’t let them raise tuition.

• In transportation, roads and bridges will get more than $300 million from the state’s budget as lawmakers dedicate part of taxes on auto parts, rental cars and leased cars to road and bridge funding.

Dayton prefers raising the gas tax, but has signaled he might accept it. Rural Minnesota desperately needs an agreement here. Many state roads and bridges are in terrible shape in this region.

• Dayton has proposed modest fee increases for hunting and fishing licenses, state park permits and for certain recreational vehicle registrations to maintain and restore critical natural resources and recreational services.

The Department of Natural Resourcess Commissioner Tom Landwehr argues that budget cuts by the Republicans will impact more than 10 million visitors to Minnesota state parks and recreational areas. We consider the slight fee increases as wise investments to maintain access to hunting and fishing activities.

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