MINNEAPOLIS - Government spending and revenue in Minnesota grew more slowly in the 1990s than is widely portrayed, according to a study that's gaining attention as fiscal issues dominate political races around the state.

For more than a year, Gov. Jesse Ventura, other politicians and interest groups have seized on the doubling of the state's general budget since 1990 to argue for spending cuts, tax cuts and other changes in fiscal policy.

But while the $14 billion annual state budget is twice as large as it was in 1990, most discussions of that change leave out the impact of population and inflation growth and the shifting responsibilities of state and local governments. Local government finances have been enmeshed with the state's since the "Minnesota Miracle" reforms of the early 1970s.

A study released last week, called Trends in Minnesota Government Spending, puts it all together -- taxes, fees and spending by all levels of local and state government since 1987.

It found that while spending by Minnesota governments remains greater than the average of other states, the difference narrowed from 1987 to 1997, the last year for which comparison data is available. During that time, spending by Minnesota governments grew 1.8 percent a year, adjusted for the state's rapid population growth and inflation, below the national average of 2.4 percent.

The study also found revenue to state and all local governments in Minnesota, also adjusted for population and inflation growth, grew1.5 percent a year from 1990 to 2002.

The study was written by Jeff Van Wychen of the Property Tax Study Project, a Minneapolis group supported by three cities, three counties and two school districts, and Nan Madden of the Minnesota Budget Project, an initiative of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, based in St. Paul.

The two undertook the study in part because the repeated portrayals that state government had doubled in size didn't fit with the experience of people who work in or use services from the state, counties, cities and schools. "People would say 'Our program hasn't doubled in 10 years,' " Madden said.

"Our spending is higher than other states, but there's not any evidence that suggests we are growing particularly fast," she said. "And in comparison to the national average, we're starting to look more like other states."