Steve Hallstrom’s interview with Clay County Commissioner Jenny Mongeau
(MOOREHAD, MINN) – Clay County Commissioner Jenny Mongeau is speaking out in regards to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s budget proposal.
“As we started digging into it a little bit, it seemed, though there were some cuts, the cuts came in the form of a shift,” Mongeau told the Steve Hallstrom Show on Thursday.
Walz’s proposal included a shift of $460 million in costs to counties through the Department of Human Services (DHS) budget. The proposal is part of Gov. Walz’s attempt to address a projected $5.1 billion state budget deficit by 2029, which includes $1.5 billion in human services cost shifts.
The shift would change the county burden from $100 million per biennium to a much more substantial amount.
On Wednesday, Mongeau joined six other county commissioners and administrators from Minnesota in St. Paul on the invitation of Senator Jordan Rasmusson (R-Fergus Falls). She shared what the proposed shifts would mean Clay County.
“Particularly, for us, it would be a $3.2 million increased shift of mandated programs,” Mongeau said. She said the increased shift cost would be a yearly cost
The programs are required to Clay County and would impose a 6.95 percent levy on taxes to taxpayers in the county. The cost would not be covered by state aid allocated to Clay County, Mongeau said.
She said Republicans and Democrats ‘were outraged to hear about these shifts’ from the counties.
