Veto means veto: Pawlenty rules out calling special session

A last-gasp attempt by local leaders to balance their budgets by tapping into the state treasury instead of homeowners' pockets failed to sway Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who ruled out a special session on Wednesday.

By Martiga Lohn, Associated Press

Last update: November 14, 2007 - 8:50 PM

His decision leaves for dead a vetoed tax bill that would have boosted aid to local governments. Mayors and Democrats had pressed for a special session to revive the bill, which the Republican governor rejected in May over an inflation accounting provision.

Pawlenty outlined his stance to reporters Wednesday after putting it in a letter to 11 mayors on Friday.

Frustrated Democrats blamed him for expected 2008 property tax hikes and a recent string of job losses.

Minnesota lost 26,900 jobs over four months ending in October, and the state's September unemployment rate topped the national rate for the first time in years. Growth in jobs also has been lagging behind national figures.

Pawlenty scoffed at the notion that his vetoes hurt the state's economy.

Local governments face a Dec. 27 deadline for adopting the final levies that set tax rates for property owners. After that, any help wouldn't arrive until the 2009 tax year. Cities anticipated 9 percent levy increases on average, with much larger increases in some communities, according to Jim Miller, executive director of the League of Minnesota Cities.

Some local officials haven't given up hope for a special session.

"There's still a window of opportunity here," said Hutchinson Mayor Steve Cook, whose city faces a $180,000 shortfall.

Cook and other mayors, including R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, will make their case for a special session at a Capitol event today.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Governor: Tim Pawlenty
One of only a few prominent Republicans to win a competitive re-election contest in the Democratic sweep of 2006, Tim Pawlenty is widely seen as politically shrewd and naturally likable.

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