The budget surplus can largely be attributed to a $230 million decrease in spending, mostly in lower-than-anticipated enrollment in Health and Human Services programs. The state also took in about $93 million more in revenues than anticipated, state budget officials announced on Wednesday.

Many of the questions focused on the government shutdown last year, and whether steps should be taken to ensure state spending or programs continue in the event of a future impasse.

Positive budget news has been in short supply at the Capitol in recent years. So it’s no surprise that Republicans and DFLers alike greeted with relief the surprise announcement that the state is projected to have an $876 million surplus in the current two-year budget cycle.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation spent about $2.3 million to prepare for and recover from a state government shutdown that stalled roughly 100 road construction projects last July.

The net cost to the state of July's three-week partial government shutdown came to roughly $5 million, according to a report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget. During that time, Minnesota lost some $50 million in revenues that the state cannot recover, spent nearly $10.5 million in costs related to unemployment insurance, and spent another $10 million on special expenses associated with closing and then reopening many state services. But that $70 million or so in costs was largely offset by $65 million in payroll savings from the salaries of 19,000 laid-off state employees.

Gov. Mark Dayton is calling a move by state Sen. David Hann to stall federal health care grants “undemocratic” and “unconscionable.” Hann says state legislators need to scrutinize the funding.

Although the state won’t issue its next economic forecast until early December, the outlook for the state budget is growing increasingly gloomy.

As recently as February 2008, Minnesota’s fiscal situation was cushioned by $1 billion in reserves, and state officials did not need to worry about cash flow.

Tax reform became an unlikely elephant in the room during the contentious 2011 Minnesota legislative session.

In an ordinary environment, state lawmakers would be poised to pass a large bonding bill in 2012. But Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders this year took the unusual step of passing a sizable bill in an odd-numbered year.