Difficult decisions for Carver County

From: Gayle Degler, Chair

Carver County Board

The action recently taken by the Carver County Board was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in my seven years as a commissioner.

Facing the reality that another round of layoffs was needed in order to balance the county’s budget is difficult. Knowing that dedicated employees were negatively impacted by these decisions is not something that I take lightly.

At the same time, I understand that many homeowners and business owners in Carver County are also facing adverse economic conditions to an extent never seen before in many of our lifetimes. Therefore, asking the average homeowner in Carver County to take on additional property taxes is something that I cannot support at this time.

The county administrator recently recommended adjustments to the 2009 and 2010 budgets and the county board adopted these adjustments at the June 9 meeting. The 2009-2010 budget adjustments eliminate Carver County’s reliance on aid from the State of Minnesota in the operating budget and adjusts the budget for declining revenues.

State aid to the county has become an unreliable funding source. From 2002 until 2008, the state cut aid to Carver County by 56 percent or over $2.7 million. In December of 2008, the governor at the end of our fiscal year unalloted or cut $761,036 from Carver County’s 2008 state aid. The year is now half over, and cities and counties have no idea how much the state aid payment will be.

Relying on the state aid in Carver County’s operating budget is no longer a good fiscal policy. Therefore, the county is removing state aid from the operating budget and any future state aid that the county receives will be directed towards one time capital projects. Several cities including Chanhassen, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka have a similar budget philosophy regarding state aid.

In order to stabilize the budget and remain fiscally healthy, the county is adjusting the 2009 budget by $1.1 million and the 2010 budget by $2.6 million. The recently approved 2009-2010 budget adjustments include laying off the equivalent of over eight employees and not filling almost five current vacancies.

In addition, revenue from social services has increased due to changes in federal and state reimbursements, contractual services have been reduced in social services from changes in policy and procedures (even as the demand for services has increased with the slowing economy), the Citizen newsletter has been cut, the Soil & Water Conservation District is relocating to save on lease costs, the lifeguard hours are being reduced, the amount of money allocated to the fair board is being reduced and additional budget savings targets will need to be realized in order to remove the county’s reliance on state aid and adjust for declining revenues.

While these cuts are not easy for the organization, they have been targeted to realign the county’s base budget to increase our future fiscal sustainability while minimizing the impact on the delivery of core county services.