By Mark Fischenich

Free Press Staff Writer

The Minnesota House of Representatives has now indicated how it would spend the state’s money during the next two years, about four weeks after the Senate did the same.

And for the most part, specific appropriations for south-central Minnesota were included in the House budget, the Senate budget or both. The spending ranges from dollars for a rural policy center in St. Peter to the agricultural interpretive center in rural Waseca to a hydro-electric dam near Rapidan.

Over the next month, conference committees made up of equal numbers of senators and representatives will negotiate compromise bills for final passage by the Legislature.

In a typical year, supporters of a particular appropriation could feel pretty confident if it was included in both the House and Senate budget bills. Odds were it would end up in the final bill negotiated by the conference committee.

The 2007 session promises to be quite different. The Democratic-controlled House and Senate have each passed budgets that rely in part on income-tax increases that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has promised to veto. And House and Senate Republicans, while in the minority, have enough strength to uphold Pawlenty’s vetoes if they stick together.

So it appears some serious paring will need to be done on the legislative budgets sometime before final adjournment. Here’s the status of many of the appropriations aimed specifically at the Mankato area.

Rural policy center

The Center for Rural Policy and Development in St. Peter would receive $500,000 over two years under the Senate budget. The House would provide a $1.1 million grant.

The center provides research and analyzes policy options for dealing with economic and social issues facing rural Minnesota. It operates on state appropriations, grants and proceeds of an endowment established with donations by nonprofit organizations and the state.

Tornado cleanup

The House would provide $75,000 and the Senate offers $79,000 to help clean debris tossed into Le Sueur County’s Lake Emily by an Aug. 24 tornado.

Several homes built on the shore of the lake, which is just east of St. Peter, were damaged or destroyed by the storm. In the process, debris ranging from air conditioners to sheet metal was believed to have been dropped in the lake.

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