After months of controversy at the state Capitol about Legacy funding, a citizen/legislator panel has arrived at an apparent compromise to recommend outdoors projects paid for with dedicated sales tax dollars.

In crafting its recommendations to the 2014 Legislature, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council is internally divided on more than $30 million in requests to combat aquatic invasive species in Minnesota waters.

Gov. Mark Dayton doesn’t enjoy raising anyone’s taxes. The first-term Democratic governor, reflecting on his now-complete third legislative session, knows the headlines have mostly been about the $2 billion in tax increases that he and the Democrats who control the Legislature enacted this year.

It was four minutes to midnight on the final day of session when the Minnesota Senate passed the omnibus tax bill that wrapped up the Legislature’s work on the state’s $38 billion budget for the 2014-15 biennium. The down-to-the-wire finish followed a contentious final two weeks of negotiations between House, Senate and the governor’s office over the terms of final budget and policy deals.

The Minnesota House is getting pushback as it seeks to reset the calendar for appropriating Legacy dollars for hunting and fishing habitat.

Even though Minnesota faces a $1.1 billion budget deficit, there are still some much-coveted pots of money up for grabs in 2013, thanks to the Legacy amendment’s provisions for spending on outdoors and cultural projects.

The fourth round of constitutionally dedicated funding for outdoors projects is under way at the state Capitol.

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