The news on Wednesday that the state budget could have a surplus of $1 billion at the end of this two-year state budget cycle should signal more than just cash in the bank.

It also should prompt a more conducive work environment in St. Paul, offering the first time in three years that Democrats and Republicans won’t have to haggle over whose ox is being gored.

It’s a long ways from three years ago when lawmakers faced a $4.6 billion budget deficit from which they have been struggling to dig out of ever since.

State Finance Department officials predict at the end of the 2006-07 biennium, state budget projections will grow by $701 million over the budget finally agreed upon in July, which by state law is dedicated to be used to reverse the education accounting shifts enacted in 2002 and 2003.

The money needs to go unaltered to school districts, as the state for too long has used state payments to school districts as a bank, delaying the payments owed to schools in order to keep money in the state’s coffers. It will also allow a partial buyback of the property tax shift to a state obligation, a 2001 endeavor.

The surplus will also allow $337 million to be parked in a tax relief account, which lawmakers from both parties and Gov. Tim Pawlenty agree that is available for spending.

Still, lawmakers need to be cautious. While the budget news is good news indeed, it is not a clarion call for new spending programs.

Nor, we are quick to say, is it something that needs to be stingily deposited at the expense of more cuts to further enrich the pot.

In other words, the school set-aside must be honored, and priorities set for the remaining $337 million. First, lawmakers should look at restoring the most onerous cuts made to services to the most vulnerable, such as children’s services and health care, and safety net programs for the elderly and disabled.

One thing is certain, however, the fact that major bucks will put the state back again in the black should serve to end the acrimonious atmosphere in St. Paul. We hope that there will be more agreement for the betterment of the state in future legislative sessions, rather than an ideological standoff which does no one any good.

&045; Bemidji Pioneer