Ventura Nixes $3 Mil in Public Projects

ST. PAUL, MN-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura line-item vetoed a numberof development projects last weekend, including $3 million in state money earmarked for the Guthrie Theater’s new complex in Minneapolis and $500,000 for a new Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. The setbacks are not expected to affect the long-term prospects of either project.

In letters explaining the Guthrie veto, Ventura said, “Projects of this nature should, at a minimum, be able to demonstrate significant local and philanthropic financial commitments prior to a request for statefunding.”

Ventura says the $500,000 for the pre-design of the Roy Wilkins auditorium and exhibit hall “should be considered part of the capital budgeting process, rather than funded separately in a biennial operating appropriations bill.” He added, “I am concerned about the lack of a matching requirement and I question why the state funds are the first dollars in the project.”

Ventura also vetoed:

* A $1-million appropriation for the St. Paul Port Authority for the acquisition of the Trillium site in St. Paul, part of the Trout Brook Greenway corridor. “The project was not pre-approved by all partiesinvolved in negotiating a final agreement on the bill, and is not an emergency item.”

* A related $300,000 appropriation to the St. Paul Port Authority for the 38-acre Trillium site. Ventura said, “This site should enter a competitive process for funding through the Department of Trade and Economic Development and should require a local funding match.”

* A $100,000 appropriation to the Albert Lea Port Authority to remodel a building in an industrial park. Ventura said it is “a local project and is financed inappropriately from reductions in an important statewide program,” and it “serves no clear statewideneed.”

The Minnesota Legislature cannot override the vetoes because they have adjourned for the year.