Minnesota Senate Democrats take middle ground on budget

ST. PAUL - Minnesota Senate Democrats' budget plan falls between the higher-spending Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the big-tax-cut House Republicans.

Senators propose their biggest increase in spending for education programs and want to increase the budget reserve by $250 million.
Total spending in programs funded by state taxpayers would be $42.7 billion in the next two years, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, D-Cook, announced this morning. Senate fiscal experts calculate Dayton's budget plan at nearly $43 billion and House Republicans at $42.6 billion.
The state is on track to spend almost $40 billion in the two years that end June 30.
While Dayton released a detailed budget on Jan. 27 and updated it earlier this month, Senate Democrats and House Republicans this week only released outlines of their plans, with committees charged with filling in specifics before the Legislature's May 18 adjournment.
"Everybody would like to spend more money, everyone would like a tax cut," Bakk said, but the state budget needs stability more.
Even without details, there are some factors that Bakk and other Senate leaders made clear:

• Even with more money slated for education, it is unlikely that senators will find funds to make free pre-kindergarten available to all Minnesota kids or to freeze tuition for two years at state-run colleges and universities.
• Some tax cuts are likely, but the Senate Taxes Committee has yet to decide details. "We are looking forward to some modest" tax cuts, Taxes Chairman Rod Skoe, D-Clearbrook, said.
• Additional aid to local governments is probable.
• Putting more money into the state budget reserve is a high priority. Dayton did not suggest raising the reserves and House Republicans suggest adding $100 million to the bottom line.

Efforts will be made to increase early childhood through high school education spending even more than in the Senate budget outline, Assistant Majority Leader Katie Sieben, D-Cottage Grove, said because "there is some concern" that more is needed. Spending money for items such as tuition freezes "is not sustainable," Bakk said, suggesting that freezes for undergraduates or a one-year freeze may be possible.
Bakk said that the Senate Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party budget plan fits what Minnesotans want.
Republicans were not impressed.
“The state budget should reflect Minnesotans’ values, but Senate Democrats clearly refuse to do the hard work Republicans are doing to eliminate wasteful spending..." Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said. "Like Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk and the Senate Democrats have forgotten who the budget surplus actually belongs to: the people of Minnesota.”
Bakk said that he expects budget bills to begin appearing in the full Senate the week of April 17, with senators passing the entire budget by May 1.