Eagan Responds to Budget Bills as Shutdown Ends

Sen. Ted Daley, R-Eagan, quoted colleague and House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, who said the budget passed Wednesday was one everyone could be disappointed in.

Daley and others nodded their heads in agreement, he said.

"It’s certainly a compromise. I feel strongly that compromise is not a dirty word," he said Wednesday afternoon. "...We needed to end the shutdown. This was starting to have an impact on everyone, and the longer it would go on, the worse it would become for everyone."

Daley and residents reacted to the budget and shutdown's end, expressing a range of reactions from frustration to understanding.

Overall, Daley said he's not happy about the school funding shift, but in general he said the budget bills include long-term structural savings. The budget also includes some new ideas, such as cash bonuses for state employees who come up with cost-saving ideas, he said.

"It helps all of us," Daley said.

He said he wants to host town hall forums in Eagan to explain the budget to people who may be confused about the bills and what they do.

Lynn Wasvick of Eagan said her husband is a state employee. It was stressful not knowing when he could get back to work, she said.

"I hate to say, I'm not happy (about) what's going on. I understand why the governor did what he had to do," she said Tuesday evening as lawmakers worked through the night and into early Wednesday morning to pass bills.

Wasvick said she plans to vote the current representatives out of office. "I'm going to walk until my shoes wear off my feet," she said. "But they will not be re-elected."

When asked about what Daley would say to residents like Wasvick who aren't happy with the shutdown, Daley responded: "I am equally upset. Being upset doesn’t solve the current situation. But it provided me an incentive and a motivation to never let this happen again."

Eagan resident William Namen said on Wednesday he's usually proud to tell people he's from Minnesota, "because we always take care of our own." But with state budget cuts to education and health and human services programs, "that Minnesota nice is going out the window," he said.

He welcomes the shutdown's end, but said he's concerned about the event's price tag.

"I hope things get back to normal," Namen said. "But it's going to cost us a lot of money to get going again."

Read full coverage of the shutdown's effect in Eagan here. Leave comments and stay updated on our Eagan Facebook page. Share follow-up ideas or other stories with .