Minnesota’s political climate will be marked by a change when the Legislature convenes later this month. The Democratic Farmer Labor Party will control the House, Senate and governor’s office for the first time in more than 20 years.

As spending issues and deficit-resolution suggestions are considered, we urge the DFL to use restraint in making up for lost time.

Requests for more money to be spent on education and transportation are being discussed even before the Legislature convenes.

Senate Majority Leader-elect Tom Bakk, who will represent Borderland, has said there is little money to do anything new. He, too, recognizes a need for restraint in making promises the state simply cannot keep.

Counties and cities are already bracing for changes that could force them to revise their 2013 budgets. As the federal and state budgets have not yet been determined, local officials fear that cuts to programs and anticipated funding will require local governments to fill the gap by reducing the services they provide as well as taking on the costs of mandated services passed on to them.

The Minnesota Management and Budget office Dec. 5 projected a $1.1 billion deficit for the 2014-15 biennium. And while it’s good news that current conditions will allow the state to reduce the K-12 education money shift that helped resolve a previous deficit, the bad news reported by the office is that improvement does not continue into the next budget period.

That deficit will add to the ongoing political debate between the two parties over whether government is an impediment to growth or if government should play a role in growth by implementing tax reform and other measures intended to create revenue streams that will be greater than in past years and sustainable into future years.

Clearly, Minnesota’s economy is improving. Just two years ago, the Legislature was struggling with a $5 billion deficit and the state’s longest government shutdown in history occurred.

But many of the issues that brought us to that crisis remain in place and have been kicked down the road.

Well, that’s the road we are on today and both of the major parties at the Capitol must exercise restraint in spending and creativity in generating new revenue.