The shadow of the state's expected $5 billion deficit hung over the Hennepin County Board's approval of a $1.7 billion 2009 budget Tuesday, with commissioners warning that the new budget may have to be reworked as soon as the first quarter of next year.
"The hurt and pain isn't over with," Commissioner Mark Stenglein said.
Hennepin County is expecting a roughly $22 million state aid payment near the end of this month. County Administrator Richard Johnson told the board that the governor could delay the payment until next year or reduce state aid to counties, cities and school districts as soon as Friday. "That impacts Hennepin County in 2008 because that is a revenue flow we expect," he said. "It has bottom-line impact."
Effects of losing aid
An aid cut could mean more layoffs or program cutbacks. The just-approved budget includes cutting the equivalent of 221 full-time jobs and reorganization of child protection services because of a $14 million cut in federal aid to that area. About one in six of the 700 vendors that contract to provide services to county residents had their contracts reduced; 14 saw them eliminated.
"I don't think this budget is going to make anyone happy," Commissioner Mike Opat said. Gail Dorfman agreed, saying this budget was the toughest in her nine years as a commissioner. She predicted even tougher times ahead.
"Our state partners have been increasingly abandoning us and leaving us with untenable choices," Dorfman said. "The state can't continue to shift responsibility for our safety-net services."
She said she hoped that next year the board would take a tougher stance with partners, including financial institutions involved in the foreclosure crisis, which has hit parts of the county hard. "We need to start demanding a real partnership with the private sector to keep people in their homes."
