Cities around Minnesota are bracing for state aid cuts spelled out in House Republicans' tax proposal.
Not officials in Houston, a tiny town in southeastern Minnesota.
Buried in a budget spreadsheet of government aid cuts sits a line noting a $197,000 increase -- yes, increase -- for the town of about 1,000 residents in the Root River Valley.
Turns out, when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty unilaterally cut government aid a couple years back, he targeted all cities with more than 1,000 people.
At the time, Census data put Houston at 1,003 residents.
So Pawlenty whacked about $153,000 in aid to the city.
Houston city leaders pleaded with lawmakers using this argument: The town's population had slipped to 989, which means they should have been exempt from Pawlenty's cuts.
That proved a compelling argument for Republican legislators, who inserted a line in the budget to repay the lost funding.
