Minneapolis to support limits to unallotment

Article by: JOHN FUNK , Star Tribune
Updated: January 29, 2010 - 11:19 PM

City will file a brief with state supreme court when it hears Pawlenty's appeal of ruling he exceeded his powers.

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Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Minneapolis City Council said Friday that they intend to file a "friend of the court" brief in support of a Ramsey County District Court decision limiting Gov. Tim Pawlenty's use of unallotment.

Friend of the court -- amicus -- briefs are filed by parties interested in, but not directly involved, with a legal case.

Last year, Pawlenty used unallotment, an emergency authority granted to the governor under Minnesota law, to cut more than $2.7 billion from the state's budget. In December, Ramsey County District Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin ruled that in eliminating funding for a small nutrition program, Pawlenty overstepped his constitutional bounds.

Pawlenty also used unallotment to reduce local government aid to cities and counties.

The governor's challenge to Gearin's ruling will be heard in March by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

"We feel it's important that the court hear from the people of Minneapolis as it considers this appeal," Rybak said in a prepared statement. "We know that times are tough and that everyone is being called upon to do their part, including cities, but cities have already borne a disproportionate share of the governor's and the Legislature's inability to get our state's budget into structural balance."

John Funk is a University of Minnesota journalism student on assignment for the Star Tribune.