Only the most optimistic of Minnesota city and county financial managers could have been surprised last week when Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders put their state aid on the chopping block. It's been plain since the financial markets collapsed this fall that the state's money woes would intensify, and emergency spending cuts would be likely yet this year.

The ax has not yet fallen. But with the state budget that must be balanced by June 30, 2009, at least $426 million short now, and the biennium's last state payments to local governments due to be issued before the end of this month, a whack at those aid allotments is coming almost as certainly as Christmas. Senate DFL Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller spoke with commendable clarity when he was asked last week whether there is any way cities and counties could be spared. "No," he said.

Nevertheless, local governments were justified last week in complaining about not being forewarned by state officials in the know, and in pleading for more cooperation between the state and local governments going forward. They deserve it -- not for their sakes, but for Minnesota's. State and local governments are intertwined -- legally, financially and, one can argue, morally. When they fail to work together, history shows, problems are passed along and perpetuated, rather than truly solved.

Mayors including Rochester's Ardell Brede note that a similar pattern developed the last time the state was in money trouble, in 2003. The state's budget remedy that year included a disproportionately high 30 percent cut in state aid to cities. Most cities, including his, have not seen state aid levels rise substantially since then. Rochester received $11 million from the state in 2002; this year -- before any additional cut -- its state aid payment is scheduled to be $7.6 million. Pinched public safety services and property tax increases around the state have been the result.

"In 2003, cities were the solution," Brede said. "This time, we'd like to be part of the solution."

How? For starters, Gov. Tim Pawlenty should recognize that denying cities and counties their entire December payment, a six-month slice, will wreak havoc with their calendar-year budgets. Many cities lack the cash-flow cushion to sustain a large blow late in the year and stay in the black. Pawlenty should try to avoid canceling their entire six-month payment, and should consider ways to help hard-pressed jurisdictions cope. For example, the state might help arrange low-cost short-term borrowing, or allow limited local access to the state's cash flow account.

For another: State officials should listen to city and county complaints about unfunded mandates. At his Dec. 4 news conference, Pawlenty faulted counties for not stepping forward with specific mandates that they find unduly burdensome. In fact, they've been doing so for several years, as directed by a 2005 state law. Their ideas are posted on State Auditor Rebecca Otto's website; a few sample suggestions are listed above.

What's impressive about the posted list is its range of topics and level of detail. Local officials in Minnesota clearly know their business well. If Pawlenty and legislators are serious about resolving this budget crisis with a reformer's scalpel rather than a meat ax, they will want people with such expertise at their side as partners.