Washington County cut into its budget Tuesday, whacking $1.9 million in expenses in reaction to faltering state revenue.
The county also found about $800,000 in unexpected non-levy money, such as wheelage tax revenue, to make up the $2.7 million shortfall this year.
The total state aid reductions in the county for 2008, 2009 and 2010 have now reached $7.7 million. Those reductions, which result in cuts to programs and staffing, are hurting services provided to residents, said Deputy Administrator Molly O'Rourke.
"We're doing less with less as a direct result of the state budget woes," said Commissioner Lisa Weik of Woodbury.
Included in the budget reduction was the full-time equivalent of 18 jobs. Most are vacant, but five layoffs will occur. Nineteen other jobs were eliminated last year despite a growing demand for county services as the population climbs.
The county's longest-serving commissioner, Dennis Hegberg of Forest Lake, said the current budget crisis is the worst he's seen since taking office in 1989. "Every cost reduction is getting now to having a cost to it," he said, explaining that many of the programs help people in need or prevent crime.
More and more of Minnesota's budget problems are sliding to counties to solve, said Keith Carlson, executive director of the Minnesota Inter-County Association. Carlson, who gave a review of the 2010 Legislature at the board meeting, told commissioners that the state's mammoth budget deficit is only going to make it more difficult for counties to maintain essential services without substantially raising property taxes to pay for them.
Washington County has taken a hard line on taxes in recent years, electing to make cuts rather than raise additional revenue through property taxes. An estimated 80 percent of Washington County's annual budget is built on mandated state and federal programs, but commissioners have long complained that as money for those programs disappears, the mandates remain.
