Describing the DFL budget proposal as a &uot;thoughtful approach,&uot; Senate Minority Leader John Hottinger said the party would bolster education, economic development, public safety and health care by appropriating more funds than Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposal and other GOP plans in an interview in Albert Lea Tuesday.

The proposal, Hottinger said, reflects more than 10,000 Minnesotans’ opinions, gathered through 150 town meetings in the past six weeks, involves $1.2 billion in spending cuts and $1.15 billion in tax increases to deal with the $4.23 billion projected budget shortfall for fiscal years 2005-05.

&uot;An overwhelming number we heard said there are some things that are too important to Minnesotans to leave behind, so please find some revenues to deal with those things. We’d rather pay state taxes than property taxes.&uot;

Democrats say that proposed cuts in local-government aid would drive up local property taxes as cities try to fill the holes in their budgets.

Meanwhile, a group of Republican legislators broke from Pawlenty on Tuesday and joined Democrats in offering a plan that would ease aid cuts to rural and urban cities at the expense of suburban communities.

The competing plan adds to the geographic tensions festering in the House GOP caucus, which has 41 members who represent mostly rural districts and 40 from suburban areas.

Nearly all of the 17 House Republican co-sponsors represent rural districts with cities that take sizable state aid cuts under Pawlenty’s budget plan. If they stand firm and Democrats side with them, they could deny Republicans the 68 House votes they need to pass budget bills.

The chief sponsors &045; Rep. Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea, and Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon &045; said Pawlenty’s proposal spreads the pain unevenly. Their plan cuts deeper into allowances dear to suburbs.

In Pawlenty’s proposal, most of the $435 million in city cuts come from Local Government Aid, which flows more heavily to urban and outstate cities. The rest is from the Market Value Credit Program, an element of the 2001 property tax overhaul meant to keep cities whole and homeowners from seeing tax spikes. Critics say it disproportionately helps communities with more high-valued homes.

The new plan would take less from LGA and more from the credit program. The proposal also reverses a change that had the state pay a greater share of transit costs, a move that would require affected communities and their citizens to assume $260 million more in costs.

&uot;It’s fair to say that our goal is not to gouge taxpayers in high-valued suburbs, but they did receive significant relief in the property tax bill two years ago,&uot; Dorman said. &uot;It’s reasonable to expect them to participate in the budget solution this year.&uot;

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said the government aid issue will be the most difficult for his caucus to address. The budget framework he announced last week would put soften Pawlenty’s cut by $91 million, although it is contingent on new revenue from a yet-to-be-approved state-run casino.

He worries that the approach outlined Tuesday would cause suburban legislators to go after other assistance from the 2001 tax bill, including one change that helped rural school districts catch up in funding.

&uot;All of the sudden one thing will lead to another will lead to another will lead to another,&uot; he said. &uot;The slippery slope could get really, really dicey.&uot;