St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, area mayors, and current and former lawmakers will call on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Thursday to minimize local government aid cuts to cities during a news conference at Albert Lea City Hall.

Hosted by the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, the event will start at 12:30 p.m. in the Albert Lea City Council Chambers.

Pawlenty — who will use an executive authority called unallotment to balance the budget after signing spending bills and vetoing tax increases — said Tuesday he is moving quickly to come up with a plan for $2.7 billion in spending cuts and delayed state payments. He said he will hold a cabinet meeting Thursday to discuss the plan and make his outline of cuts public before July 1.

He said he doesn’t want to drag out the process and will seek cuts in welfare, local government aid, higher education and other social services spending.

Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen said she and city staff have concerns that the governor is awarded the opportunity to balance the budget on his own — especially knowing he could choose to do whatever he wants with LGA.

“We do think we’re probably headed down a road toward unallotment,” Simonsen said. “Once we know that amount will result in how quickly we have to take some of that action.”

She said the leaders of municipalities at the news conference hope to make the point that minimizing cuts will only result in a reduction of services.

District 27A Rep. Robin Brown echoed that thought.

She said she doesn’t know if Pawlenty has made the connection that if he does cut LGA, then property taxes will probably go up. Likewise, if LGA is reduced, it will affect services.

“I think that is something that is vulnerable right now,” she said. “He has made it clear that LGA is something that will be addressed because it’s a good chunk of money. It’s one way you can get many, many millions of dollars toward balancing the budget. But I think one thing he doesn’t realize is how important it is to cities in Greater Minnesota.”

Brown said LGA was one of the things the Legislature worked hard to protect in its final budget that was passed Monday night.

“It’s in his court now,” she said. “It really depends on whether he wants to act as part of a team or if he truly wants to go at this alone.

“I’m still hoping that the budget we passed will be considered seriously. It certainly was balanced, and it took into consideration many of the things he was for.”

Albert Lea has already begun implementing several changes to its budget in light of anticipated LGA cuts. Both city leaders and citizens have voiced their desire to move away from such a reliance on LGA.