In Anoka County, ready with the pitch

Throughout the 2006 legislative session, when the Vikings sought funding for a new stadium in Anoka County, Centerville Mayor Mary Capra probably attended more stadium hearings at the Capitol than Vikings Owner Zygi Wilf.

Wilf talked about investing $1 billion in the area. But Capra, a stadium opponent, invested time. And all those trips to St. Paul two sessions ago could prove invaluable during the 2008 session when Centerville, a community of less than 4,000, competes with cities and counties statewide for government funding.

Centerville is seeking $1,227,000 in state funding to design and reconstruct the portion of Main Street that connects the city with Lino Lakes and provides access to Interstates 35E and 35W. But with cities and counties competing for funds from a budget-conscious Legislature and veto-ready Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Capra hopes what she learned during her 2006 stadium Capitol watch will lay the basis of Centerville's 2008 Capitol game plan, beginning this week.

"One of the first things I'd say when I addressed legislators at the Capitol was, 'I'm not paid to be here. I'm here because I care,'" Capra said recently.

"The legislators perk up their ears a little more when they hear that. Because it does matter," Capra said. "I learned that the legislators do want to hear from the local people, the people who are affected."

Capra will vie with her own county for funding dollars. High on Anoka County's wish list: a regional public-safety campus, completion of a trails system and aid for a Northstar station in Fridley.

Need a strong advocate

"The counties can afford a paid lobbyist," Capra said. "In small communities, that's hard."

But even county lobbyists are at the mercy of the legislative bean counters who have only so much funding to give, and must carefully pick and choose. Perspective and, perhaps the whim of the moment, often determine who gets what.

Often, there can be a difference of opinion concerning priorities within a county.

Ask Anoka County Commissioner Dan Erhart to prioritize his list of projects needing state funding this session, and he begins with the public-safety campus, for which the county is seeking $6 million from the state bonding bill. Ask County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah for her list and she begins with the $2.2 million in funding needed to complete the Rice Creek North Regional Trail, connecting the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park Reserve in Lino Lakes to the Ramsey County trail system in Shoreview. And Steve Novak, who has been the county's lead negotiator during legislative sessions, adds to the list the $10 million needed, over the next few years, to complete the Fridley train station.

Feast or frenzy

"This is a long, long process," said Erhart, a longtime presence at the Capitol during legislative sessions. "Lobbying is like a buffet line. If you want [the governor] to eat your sandwich, you've got to keep putting things on his plate."

Sivarajah said that it is crucial to show the governor and the Legislature how these projects can prove beneficial beyond county lines. If the crime lab makes public safety work within the region more efficient, the burden is lessened on the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in general, she said. Connecting and enhancing the trail systems may encourage people to bicycle to work during the summer months, offering some relief to congested roads and parking lots.

"Anoka County already has invested significant dollars and we have federal money as well," Sivarajah said of the Rice Creek North Regional Trail. The value of the county-owned land is $7.4 million, and $1 million has been offered in federal funding, but if the state cannot provide money needed to complete the project, "the federal money will go away," she said.

Sivarajah said county officials can afford to take no chances, even with the session newly underway. She said she has sent letters to every representative and senator she knows, explaining the importance of the crime lab.

"Not everybody's going to get everything they want," she said. "But you have to touch the bases. This is about relationships."

"The formula changes slightly from year to year," he said. "But you have to show the governor that there are some opportunities that aren't going to come along again for many years, and this is the time to take advantage of those opportunities."