Mower County officials met on Friday with area legislators Sen. Dan Sparks, Rep. Jeanne Poppe and Rep. Robin Brown to discuss the issues facing the county.

The legislative session began about two weeks ago, and Sparks said they’re moving forward on a bonding bill that legislators believe will create jobs.

“I think if there’s things that we can do to save both time and money at the state level and the county level, we’re willing to do that,” Sparks said.

Flexibility, Sparks said, will be a key as the state faces budget issues.

“We always find that this communication is invaluable for us,” Sparks said.

Budget

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is scheduled to release his budget proposal Monday.

Pawlenty has said veterans, public safety and K-12 education won’t be cut. Sparks said this leaves health and human services and higher education as areas that could face cuts.

Local Government Aid and County Program Aid could also face heavy cuts.

“We all know it’s going to be challenging,” Poppe said. “We have issues, we’ll find common ground and move forward on. There might be other things that might be a little more difficult. We’ll continue to do what we can do.”

According to County Coordinator Craig Oscarson, officials in the Association of Minnesota Counties are warning that all County Program Aid could be cut in the future.

“Hopefully that doesn’t happen. If that happens, it would be devastating in many ways,” Oscarson said.

The county is expected to get about $2.2 million in County Program Aid this year — that’s after cuts of about $400,000 last year, Oscarson said. If all that funding was cut, Oscarson said as many as 40 county employees could lose their jobs if the county didn’t raise taxes.

The county commissioners could opt to raise taxes. However, Oscarson said that would be a 15 percent tax increase to match the cut funds.

“The message we hear from the governor is it’s going to be painful and dramatic if he has his way,” Oscarson said.

Bills to combine counties could potentially be introduced this session or in future sessions, and Oscarson stressed this isn’t the best method for change.

Such a bill would reduce the number of counties from 87 counties to fewer larger counties, Oscarson said and added that some legislators see this as a way to reduce costs.

Oscarson said the solution to the budget issues is joint efforts between Minnesota counties, not combining counties.

Bonding

The commissioners expressed support for bonding money to go toward the Shooting Star Trail. Oscarson described the trail as being ready for construction, and he said the legislators could see the results of the spending right away.

The commissioners also expressed support for the Blazing Star Trail.

Money from the bonding bill could also go toward repairing deficient bridges. County Engineer Mike Hanson said as many as 80 bridges in the county need repairs in the next 10 years for an estimated cost of about $30 million.

Mandates

One potential way to save money would be to switch to a four-day work week for county buildings. Oscarson estimated the county could save about $75,000 on maintenance and operating costs by being closed three days in a row.

“As budgets get tight, we need the tools,” Oscarson said. “It’s kind of an easy change. There’s no cost to the state to make this change.”

Currently, the state mandates counties to be open Monday through Friday. Oscarson said it would be beneficial for the county to have the option to be open four days a week for longer business hours.

According to Oscarson, saving $75,000 would equal the jobs of one to three county employees.

Counties face a number of other mandates that often strain a county’s budget, and Oscarson stressed that more mandates wouldn’t help counties.

“Don’t add more mandates without the funding,” he told the legislators.

Lean

Commissioner David Hillier said the county spends less in per capita levy spending than most counties in the state, especially in Human Services.

“Mower County is very lean already on a lot of these issues,” Hillier said.

Human Services Director Julie Stevermer echoed that sentiment. The department has limited the number of new staff it hires while the services provided has increased.

“We have huge case loads, and we are very, very lean,” she said.

In fact, the most of the services the department provides are mandated by the state, she said. She stressed that the state needs to ease up on mandates, and

Stevermer said Human Services can only provide so many services with a limited staff and budget.

County Attorney Kristen Nelsen said her office is struggling to fulfill an increasing number of duties with the same number of staff.

“Every time the state thinks, ‘Hey, we’ve got this great idea where we can save on staff.’ That time has to go somewhere else,” Nelsen said. “And where it’s going right now is on the county workers. It’s on the prosecutors. It’s on our staff. That takes away from our ability to do our job. It may help their budget out, but it’s not doing wonders for my staff.”

Sheriff’s Department

The Sheriff’s Department is the licensing authority for mini-trucks after the state delegated that service to the counties.

Mini-trucks are built in Japan, where they’re licensed with restrictions and often used for driving in town. Most trucks are Suzuki models, also known as Kei Trucks, have 640 cc engines and can drive up to about 55 mph, said Hovda. The county passed a mini-truck ordinance in December.

Sheriff Terese Amazi said the licensing can become cumbersome and suggested the state resume licensing the vehicles.

Now, all counties and cities need to pass an ordinance, and there’s a lack of uniformity.

The county may take on an added expense for transporting prisoners. The Department of Corrections announced that the department doesn’t have the money to reimburse counties for transporting inmates to a prison in St. Cloud. This cost now falls back on the county.

Another additional duty could fall on the Sheriff’s Department, as the Department of Natural Resources proposed a change to have local sheriff’s regulate and enforce burning permits, rather than the DNR.

Stories

Many county employees offered to travel to the capital to pitch potential bills.

County officials can travel to the Capitol and give personal stories, and legislators often respond to personal accounts, Oscarson said.

Brown invited county officials to stop at the capital to work toward these changes, because she said it’s more likely to happen if more people work toward it.

“We need to keep the conversation open, and that’s the only way it’s going to happen,” Brown said.