Dayton presses water, rail, public safety upgrades in projects plan

Updated 3:45 p.m. | Posted 10:45 a.m.

Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday unveiled his plan for $1.4 billion in Minnesota public works construction, opening the coming legislative debate on this year's bonding bill.

Among the projects, Dayton wants upgrades to the state's water quality and rail system infrastructure as well as new spending on the Minnesota Sex Offender Program and a fisheries management project targeted at the declining walleye population in Lake Mille Lacs.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to make the kind of significant investment in the future of Minnesota, in our infrastructure, in our higher education buildings and the like, that we need, and that we are seriously behind in accomplishing," Dayton told reporters.

Expecting pushback from Republicans, he warned that state cannot afford to ignore its bonding needs. Senate Minority leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said in a statement that the governor should cut his proposal by half.

"If we short shrift these projects and others that the Legislature rightfully will have to substitute according to their priorities, we are going to incapacitate Minnesota in the years ahead," Dayton said, adding, "Not next year, but 10 years from now."

Dayton's office said his plan would create an estimated 39,000 jobs and strengthen the state's economy while meeting its critical needs.

About 35 percent of the projects Dayton seeks are in outstate Minnesota, with 35 percent in the Twin Cities metro area and 30 percent having impacts statewide, according to the governor's office. Officials said the spending would also open the doors to more than $600 million in private, local, and federal dollars.

A big share of the money would go toward higher education projects.

The University of Minnesota is earmarked for $153 million, including $66 million for a medical school expansion. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system would get $153 million. Dayton said the building needs on college campuses are critical.

Dayton's proposal is the first step in a debate that will heat up when the Legislature returns on March 8.

In recent years, lawmakers have stuck to a $1 billion bonding limit for the two-year budget cycle. House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, said she wants to stay under that limit.

Dayton's plan is far too large and includes the wrong priorities, she added.

To make her point, Peppin singled out two projects: $5 million for a ski chair lift at Giants Ridge in Biwabik and $2 million for a snowmaking system at Battle Creek Regional Park in St. Paul.

"This is a credit card for the state. We have to pay these bills back, and the taxpayers of Minnesota do that," she said. "We're very concerned about making sure that the projects in here have regional or statewide significance and that they're not wasteful projects, like the snowmaking machine and the ski lift that are in the governor's proposal."

Peppin said she was also disappointed that the governor used only a small part of his bonding proposal for road and bridge projects.

House and Senate leaders will come up with their own bonding plans during the 2016 session.

State Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, said he was pleased to see a "robust" plan from the governor.

"We have still very good interest rates. We still have huge needs, and we're trying to catch up in many respects," said Stumpf, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee.

One option for a bonding compromise might be to lower the amount of borrowing and tap the budget surplus to pay for some of the projects with cash, Stumpf said, adding that he plans to start holding committee hearings next month in advance of the session.

Here are some of the highlights of Dayton's plan.

Water

• $167 million to the fund drinking and waste water infrastructure systems
• $16 million to complete the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System in southwest Minnesota

Rails and oil pipelines

• $69.6 million for highway rail grade separations in Moorhead, Prairie Island and Coon Rapids
• $3.5 million for the construction of an oil train derailment and pipeline safety training center

Sex offender program and Minnesota Security Hospital

• $70 million to complete renovation of the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter
• $14.5 million to expand the St. Peter Community Preparation Services program to serve the growing number of sex offender program clients in later stages of treatment
• $12.4 million to build two new "less restrictive, community-based facilities" for people in the sex offender with particular medical needs

Fish and wildlife

• $3.5 million to develop a fisheries management station on Mille Lacs, including a laboratory hatchery.
• $9.5 million to buy and improve Minnesota's pheasant habitat