Anoka County Board orders $4 million in budget cuts

The Anoka County Board approved $4 million in budget cuts Tuesday, acting in the face of a lagging economy and to account for past and potential future cuts in state aid.

The move reduced the 2009 budget from nearly $270 million to $266 million and came two weeks after a county committee signed off on similar cuts, which will be eased somewhat by $600,000 in federal stimulus money.

County Board Chairman Dennis Berg said he has seen many budget cycles during 40 years in public service, and it's not the first time he has had to participate in steep cuts.

"We were preparing for the recession; we saw that coming," he said. "We made the adjustment and positioned ourselves. What we didn't see coming was the unallotments."

Berg was referring to cuts that Gov. Tim Pawlenty made using unallotment authority as he dealt with state budget deficits. Those unallotments, made in December and July, reduced state aid to the county by about $3.7 million.

The revised budget adopted Tuesday includes a reserve of more than $900,000 that would be tapped in the event of further state cuts.

The Human Services Department, the county's largest with a $121 million budget, bore nearly half the cuts approved Tuesday, many of which have already been phased in.

Meanwhile, requests for help are rising. Since January, food support cases have increased by 1,486 families, health care cases have risen, and the average number of new requests for emergency cash assistance has increased from 50 to 167.

Officials said the situation is causing stress for clients and for county workers for whom the cuts are reducing the amount of attention they can give to individual clients.

"They're doing yeoman's work," said Edna Hoium, director of the county's Income Maintenance Department. "They're seeing people and processing applications as fast as they can. They're being patient with the increased numbers, handling new requests and new programs."

Hoium emphasized, though, that people in need of help still should seek it.

The board also voted Tuesday to close the medium security corrections facility in Lino Lakes and to send about 60 inmates to a similar facility in Elk River, for a savings of $700,000 a year for 10 years starting in 2010. The plan is to use the current medium security building for juvenile detention. County officials are trying to find alternate employment within the county for as many displaced medium security workers as possible, Berg said.