Great budget balancing act has started
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/04/2010 9:24 AM
E-mail article | Print version
ST. PAUL — The opening round in the great budget balancing act of 2010 has begun.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty released his plan to fill the projected $1.2 billion hole in the state budget without raising taxes on Feb. 15.
The governor's plan includes:
• $250 million in reductions to local government aid.
• $347 million in reductions to state health and human services programs.
• $387 million extension of enhanced federal Medicaid funding for states.
• $47 million in reductions to state higher education institutions.
• $181 million in reductions to state agencies and other programs.
"Government has to live within its means by setting priorities and tightening its belt just like everyone else," Pawlenty said in a press release announcing the plan. "While this budget maintains funding for priority areas, it contains dramatic spending reductions in many programs."
One of those dramatic spending reductions hitsr the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute. The governor proposes to reduce funding for the organization by 50 percent for the remainder of this fiscal year and by 50 percent next year.
"We do expect a cut like everyone else," said Teresa Spaeth, AURI executive director. "Fifty percent is extreme. That would be a very serious blow to the investments we make."
Spaeth learned of the cut in text messages from lobbyists attending a meeting at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on Feb. 15. The governor's office left a voicemail 20 minutes later, she said.
The January state payment to AURI was cut 6 percent and the governor proposes slashing the April payment in half to $382,000. Their 2011 payment would be cut in half to $1.4 million.
She's been in contact with the agriculture committees in the House and Senate and told to hold tight.
"In a year where we are dependent on job growth, we're looking for ways to add value to our agricultural commodities, to go now and cut by 50 percent our job creating organization out there is insane," said Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar. Juhnke sits on the AURI board of directors.
Likewise, Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said legislators are going to work hard to restore some funding to AURI. A 50 percent cut would hurt the organization's ability to match federal grants in an area where there are lots of opportunities. AURI has done a phenomenal job of helping find new markets for agricultural commodities and creating new ways to think about farm products across the state, he said.
But Sen. Steve Dille, R-Dassel, said as long as the governor doesn't want to raise taxes, some programs will have to be let go. AURI is an example of something the state can probably do a little less of, he said. Hopefully, the program isn't completely eliminated so that when good times return, it can receive more funding.
The next step in the process is for legislators to take testimony on the governor's plan, said Rep. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton. The department of agriculture will explain the proposal in more detail in front of the ag committee and other groups will testify to the plan as well.
Legislators will use the February forecast, expected to be released the first week of March, as the baseline for their budget balancing. Also hanging out there is a Supreme Court ruling on the governor's unallotment last spring. A decision is expected by mid-April.
"We're in a mess," Magnus said. "I don't know how big a mess."
The state's constitution requires the budget be balanced by June 30, the end of the state's fiscal year.