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Politics & Government

More Answers on How Washington County will Deal With a Minnesota Government Shutdown

Construction projects will continue; license centers won't be able to process ATV, game and fish licenses.

Washington County administrators are continuing to prepare for a Minnesota state government , officials said at Tuesday’s Washington County Board meeting.

As far as what the impact will be, there are still “more questions than answers,” Deputy Administrator Molly O’Rourke said.

Here are some of the answers the county does have, according to presentations O’Rourke and County Engineer Wayne Sandberg made to the Washington County Board Tuesday morning:

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How much money does the county stand to lose in a shutdown?

If the state would take the position that it’s not going to reimburse counties their typical allocation during the time of a shutdown, the county stands to lose $140,000 to $170,000 per week, O’Rourke said.

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Has the county been doing anything already to save money?

The county administration has implemented a “soft freeze” on hiring, trying to keep positions open when possible if a county employee quits, O’Rourke said. This has saved $1 million to $1.3 million this year.

How will county road construction projects be affected by a shutdown?

During a shutdown, no work can be performed on a state right-of-way, Sandberg said. To continue work on the county’s biggest construction project, Broadway Avenue in Forest Lake, the county will have to pay for consultants to provide federally required project oversight that is usually provided by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. This will cost from $50,000 to $100,000 and subject the county to the risk that the Federal Highway Administration could withhold funds, saying that the county-arranged oversight is not acceptable, he said. The alternative, stopping construction and re-starting after a shutdown is over, could cost $2 million to $3 million, Sandberg said, and the county would not be reimbursed for that money. The county board voted to continue working in the event of a shutdown.

What principles will the administration follow in determining which services to curtail or cut in the event of a shutdown?

The county will try to avoid exposing taxpayers to additional costs or financial risks, comply with the law and focus on core services, O’Rourke said. Services will be prioritized based on how critical they are and how much they rely on state funding (a service that relies more on state funding might be limited earlier due to a lack of a guarantee that the county will be get reimbursed for money it spends providing the service).

Which services won’t be available at license centers during a shutdown?

The county won’t be able to process ATV, game and fish licenses at its license centers because the Department of Natural Resources system will be down, O’Rourke said. License center workers might have difficulty processing complicated title transactions where they would typically be able to call a state employee for help. The license centers have a 40-day supply of tabs and license plates, so they could run out of those items if a shutdown was prolonged.

Will the county take on responsibility to cover costs that would typically be paid by the state?

No, the county won’t assume new financial obligations, O’Rourke said. For example, while the county processes eligibility determinations for low-income families to get child care assistance, the county won’t take on the state’s responsibility of paying child care providers, she said. An exception might be where the costs to curtail or stop and restart a program are more than what it would cost to continue a program. Another exception might be if the county board disagrees with the judge’s ruling on what is an essential service, she said. For example, she said, maybe the judge would determine that only felons on probation are worthy of being monitored, but the county board might feel that lower-level offenders need to be monitored too for public safety reasons. In those cases, the county might pay for the service and then do anything possible to recover those costs from the state, she said.

Could county-funded services like county parks and libraries be affected by a shutdown?

If a shutdown goes on long enough that the county is worried about its cash flow, officials could decide to stop providing services like county parks and libraries to use the money for more critical services, O’Rourke said. “Clearly keeping a library open is probably less important than making sure we properly patrol our streets,” she said.

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