Eden Prairie proposes controversial cuts to social services

Responding to what he called the city council's "very clear" wish to control city spending, Eden Prairie's city manager has proposed cuts to the city's social services.

They include reducing the Housing and Community Services staff -- which handles affordable housing and immigrant outreach -- from 3.5 full-time employees to 1.5 full-time employees. And decreasing the amount the city grants to service organizations, such as food shelves, by 40 percent.

The council will consider Scott Neal's recommendations at a workshop this week. It will adopt a preliminary budget Sept. 4.

Neal, along with Mayor Phil Young, said the proposed cuts make sense. The city's human service spending is "nontraditional," Young said, and "it's fair to look at specific departments and ask, 'How did we get here?' "

But some vocal residents who have organized a group called Eden Prairie Cares say the proposal is unnecessary and could leave many without the help they need.

"People are very giving here," said Council Member Sherry Butcher, who said she's received 100 e-mails from residents opposing the budget cuts.

"The potential for having these cuts is really distressing," she said.

Social services are 'an outlier'

In a presentation to the council, Neal outlined the reasons for the cuts. Among them: Eden Prairie's hefty $25.9 million tax levy in 2006 and the community's increasing demand on city services.

He suggested the city focus on its "core mission services," such as police, fire and protecting real estate values, while reducing its "supplemental mission services," such as housing, recreation and economic development.

"In part, I looked at what among our services is different from our peers," Neal said. "The area that began to get my focus was housing and community services... There we are an outlier."

Eagan spends far less on social services than Eden Prairie, for example. Bloomington spends far more.

Minnetonka is an in-between. Of the 15.5 employees in its Community Development Department, two focus on housing, said City Manager John Gunyou. And each year, the city council, like Eden Prairie's, allocates money in the form of service grants to organizations, such as Teens Alone, which works to prevent teen homelessness. While Eden Prairie gave a total of $198,870 in grants in 2007, Minnetonka gave $65,500.

Minnetonka Mayor Jan Callison said the city has been providing those grants at least since she's began on the council 14 years ago. "We balance recognizing the good they do in the community with being good stewards of the public purse," she said.

In addition to the 2008 budget cuts to human services, Neal has proposed cutting four positions in other departments -- mostly through attrition and mostly during 2009. He also has suggested adding three full-time staff members -- one to police, one to the community center and one to information technology.

The difference between the total city staff requested for the 2008 budget and what Neal proposed is about $986,000. He said that to the owner of the median single-family home, worth $378,400, that difference translates to a savings of about $34 a year.

A small price for a lot of help?

Resident Cari McGuire, who organized the group Eden Prairie Cares, argues that human services spending equals 1 percent of the budget -- and that most residents are willing to pay the $8 to $10 a year required to fund it.

"It's such a small amount of money that does so much," McGuire said.

Each year, the Eden Prairie-based food shelf and service group People Reaching Out To Other People, better known as PROP, applies for and receives about $30,000 in grants from the city. That's in addition to free rent for facilities at the city government complex.

It might seem minimal, said Cynthia Singleton, PROP's executive director, but considering the organization spends only $84,000 on staff, the money makes a big difference.

If PROP were to receive less, its services would suffer, Singleton said. "Fewer families would be able to get our resources in a timely fashion," she said. "And people come to us when it's an emergency, when time counts."

But even if the council passes the 40 percent reduction in city grants in Neal's proposed budget, that doesn't mean PROP would necessarily get less. In the approval process, the city would decide on a total amount to give in grants. Later, it would decide which organizations get what.

"In the end, I can't imagine PROP sustaining any decrease," Young said, because the organization serves many Eden Prairie residents and provides services other agencies do not.

Even if that's the case, Singleton said, the organization would still suffer from city staff cuts. It constantly collaborates with staff from the Housing and Community Services Department, she said.

Khadra Duale is one of those employees whose position could be cut. She works as the immigrant services coordinator, serving as an intermediary between Eden Prairie's large Somali community and the city.

Duale's job has come under scrutiny before. Young, when he was a council member, voted against funding her position. He views it as a mixture of "need-to-have" and "nice-to-have" functions.

"We need to have a bridge to that community," he said. "There's no question about that -- especially when it comes to public safety and recreation." But other parts of her job, including helping with citizenship and license applications, should be things "other organizations offer," he said. "Or maybe they should figure out how to accomplish that on their own," he said, referring to immigrants living in the city.

Butcher disagrees. "Khadra does so much more than fill out paperwork," she said, citing times Duale has helped the police do their jobs. "Trust is a big thing, and she helps make sure the city has that with the Somali community."

Political winds blow right?

Many see the argument over the proposed cuts as a clash between philosophies. If it votes to approve the reductions, the council would be showing its more conservative stripes, some residents said.

"Certainly, there is perhaps a wind blowing where a more conservative bunch of people are in our city offices," said John Jarvis, who has lived in Eden Prairie for nine years. "They just may not have much attention for the people who have had a string of bad luck or are not as affluent."

In her 11 years on the council, Butcher has worked to keep the budget lean, she said. People want to keep taxes reasonable and also want a lot of services -- a tough balance, she said. She hopes she's not in the minority in opposing cuts to social services.

"We've always had really strong leadership on this," Butcher said, pointing to former Mayor Jean Harris as an example.

"She used to say this: 'Everyone, everyone, is a banana peel slip away from needing those services we're trying to provide.' She said it many, many times."

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168

Jenna Ross • jross@startribune.com