Pawlenty alters budget cuts, explains other moves

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Some Minnesota programs targeted for spending cuts by Gov. Tim Pawlenty will get slight reprieves, while others will take additional hits under a revised budget plan issued Thursday.

Pawlenty's administration made modest changes to $2.7 billion in previously announced cuts and accounting changes being used to eliminate a projected budget deficit. They were laid out in a letter from Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson to leading Democratic lawmakers.

The Republican governor is using his executive authority to cut spending after he and the Democratic-run Legislature didn't agree on a budget. The cuts start taking effect next Wednesday.

Thursday's letter mainly offers new cost estimates for the cuts Pawlenty announced earlier in June. But there are a few changes.

For example, Pawlenty decided to spare $600,000 for methamphetamine abuse treatment and prevention grants. At the same time, he sliced several hundred thousand dollars deeper into county mental health grants and community services block grants.

The administration also acknowledges that his local government aid cuts will drive up property taxes. And that, Hanson wrote, will "increase state property tax refund payments and reduce state corporate individual income tax receipts due to larger deductions." Hanson estimated the extra cost to the state to be $5.7 million.

By making several cuts to the Medical Assistance insurance program, the state could forfeit more than $70 million in federal matching money.

The Legislative Advisory Commission, a panel of top lawmakers, meets again Tuesday to discuss the cuts. While the commission can give input, the legislators don't have the power to change the cuts until the next legislative session, which won't begin until February.

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