Documents show the state agency that oversees Iowa's flagship history museum used infrastructure money designated for building repairs and museum renovation planning to pay some department salaries.

Payroll documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs diverted more than $176,000 from a special infrastructure fund to pay a portion of Director Mary Cownie's current salary and the salaries of two senior staff.

The agency insisted Tuesday that the move was legal, and it pointed to special appropriations language issued for some of the $3.65 million it received from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund. DCA says it exempts normal rules.

A spokesman for the governor agreed with DCA's interpretation of the law.