Budget cuts make a dent in $1B deficit - Star Tribune

Baird Helgeson and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, Star Tribune, March 29, 2010

Legislators tried to give Minnesotans a little candy with their medicine Monday as they passed a sweeping package of tax breaks after dealing with the ugly business of shaving $312 million from the state budget.

The state House and Senate wiped out one-third of the $1 billion deficit by carving up 10 areas of the budget, including higher education, the courts and aid to cities and counties. In higher education, legislators cut from operations and maintenance and work-study. In natural resources, they nicked forest management and parks and trails. They raised fees for barbers and cosmetologists, but scrapped a DFL plan that would have raised millions of dollars by raising fees for large securities brokerages.

After blowing a self-imposed deadline, legislators adjourned for a week-long Easter and Passover break, having completed what are widely seen as the easiest budget reductions. Still left are politically unpopular cuts to health and human services and K-12 education.

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