Dakota County Prepares for Shutdown

Editor's Note: Dakota County Commissioner Tom Egan represents a portion of Eagan, as well as Mendota Heights, Lilydale and Mendota. He was elected to office in 2004 and is now serving his second four-year term. Egan will write regularly to Patch readers about county government. In this column, Egan reports on the first budget workshop on 2011, which was dominated by talk of a shutdown.

Even without the threat of a state government shutdown, June 21 was already scheduled to be a very busy day for the Dakota County Board of Commissioners. After a full County Board Meeting including confidential discussion of five claims and lawsuits followed by a meeting of the Board acting as the Dakota County Regional Railroad Authority, the County Board held its first budget workshop of 2011. 

We learned that through the proactive steps which I have previously reported including elimination of 60 county positions during each of the past two years, a Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program (VRIP) participated in by 105 employees, reduction of the County's budget by five percent each of the last two years and implementation of a less expensive health care program, the County likely has avoided the need for drastic cuts in its budget for 2012. That is … unless there is a state government shutdown.

What dominated the County Board's budget workshop for nearly two and a half hours was a dizzying stream of flow charts, staff presentations, memoranda, legal pleadings, draft resolutions, affidavits, letters and county indicators dealing with a potential Minnesota State Government Shutdown due to the impasse between Governor Mark Dayton and the State Legislature.

Each Dakota County division director explained to the County Board the potential impact a government shutdown would have on his or her operations as well as the people they serve.  Just one example is the Dakota-Scott Workforce Center. The Workforce Center located in Burnsville would likely have to close entirely, and  programs such as those for retraining displaced Northwest/Delta Airlines employees would come to a halt. Many other programs relying upon state funding could also cease. Routine items such as the issuance of fishing licenses or titling of motor vehicles would be in jeopardy.

The largest project currently underway in Dakota County is the Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transitway. The County Board authorized execution of a $34 million contract with Shafer Contracting Company, Inc. in January for construction of shoulder and road improvements along Cedar Avenue and the project is well underway. 

If there is a government shutdown after July 1, there will be no Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) inspectors who can provide critically essential inspection services for this project. 

However, the Board has been advised that other MnDOT certified inspectors could still do inspection work if state inspectors are not available.  The risk facing Dakota County is that the county may not get reimbursed for these services even after the shutdown is over. 

Staff advised the County Board that defaulting on our contract with Shafer Contracting is a far greater risk and the County Board is likely to accept the staff recommendation that we continue to proceed with the Cedar Avenue Project. We are weighing many other similar potential risk factors.

The Minnesota State Attorney General has commenced an action in Ramsey County District Court entitled “In Re Temporary Funding of Core Functions of the Executive Branch” dealing with this issue of a government shutdown. 

By the end of business on Tuesday, June 21, the Dakota County Board had agreed to authorize the issuance of a resolution in that action.

The resolution acknowledged that despite the long legislative process from January 3 through May 23 the Legislature and governor have failed to produce a balanced state budget, and that if there is a government shutdown beginning July 1 it may cause many valuable public services to be in jeopardy of being closed until the budget can be balanced.

Furthermore, the resolution indicates that the Dakota County Board calls upon the governor and members of both the Minnesota House and Senate to resolve their disagreements and produce a balanced budget before July 1.

Almost everything the County Board discussed is hypothetical, because it will depend upon whether there is an actual government shutdown.  If a budget that is balanced is not adopted by July 1, the Dakota County Board will continue to meet and set policy on how to best meet the needs of our constituents.