Rural policy centers, farm interpretive sites and business facilitation services in the Mankato area hope Gov. Pawlenty doesn't bother with the "small fry" when he starts unallotting state funding to balance the budget, reports the Mankato Free Press.

“I believe the Center for Rural Policy and the Minnesota River Board are well below the radar,” said Rep. Terry Morrow, mentioning a couple of the area institutions he helped protect in the state budget.

But the governor did say recently that the cuts could be extensive, naming local aid, welfare, social services “and numerous other grants, programs and expenditures.”

Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, said the governor wants to give those affected as much warning as possible, and the cuts should be announced by June 24.

Gunther, who sponsored $189,000 in state help for three business facilitation centers in south-central Minnesota, isn’t sure either if Pawlenty will take aim at some of those smaller appropriations.

“He’s going to have to dig pretty deep. Nothing’s probably safe except (K-12) education,” Gunther said.