Tick, tock … tick, tock
Published 11:55 am Thursday, June 30, 2011
By TREY MEWES, MATT PETERSON and AMANDA LILLIE
Officials scramble to prepare in final hours before state closes
A state government shutdown could become a reality at 12:01 a.m. Friday. While Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin ruled on what services were essential to keep running Wednesday, local officials have spent the week preparing for what could be a lengthy suspension of key state services.
County woes
Although some core services will still run, Mower County Public Health and Human Services will be impacted by a shutdown.
“It has been a very, very busy two days,” said Julie Stevermer, director of Human Services.
Though 26 employees will be laid off, Human Services will still offer essential child and adult protection services. Human Services will also continue to coordinate child support services and process child support payments, although no modifications or paternity testing will be done.
“The only person available will be the child support supervisor in that department,” Stevermer said.
Human Services will not be doing any case coordination for people with long term care, developmental disabilities or child welfare.
“We’re just doing the basic health and safety,” Stevermer said, pointing out what Gearin ruled as core services Wednesday.
Public health workers will continue to provide women, infant and children services (WIC) as well as immunization clinics on Fridays, despite losing about 13 workers to involuntary leave if a shutdown occurs. Behind-the-scenes services like disease and illness reporting will be done as well, according to Margene Gunderson, public health director.
“If you’re on WIC, it’s business as usual,” she said.
Yet more than two dozen services will be put on hold, including maternal health programs and child and teen check-ups.
County officials have scrambled this week to get ready for the shutdown, figuring out which services they can offer and how to relegate work with a shortened staff. As a result, county workers were asked to redirect media questions to supervisor heads.
“We have to really focus on providing the services that we have and letting folks know,” Stevermer said. “We have to prioritize the time that we have for the work that we do.”
“We’ve got to have all of this ready to go at the end of business day tomorrow. That’s why we’re having to prioritize today and tomorrow,” she added.
Once a shutdown ends, county departments will have to figure out how to pick up closed services and balance the 2011 budget, according to Stevermer.
County Coordinator Craig Oscarson was available for comment.
State parks get burned
Without further update of the government shutdown, campers and visitors at Minnesota’s 72 state parks may be packing up their belongings Thursday afternoon.
Rich Bruns, Department of Natural Resources Region 3 state parks and trails operations manager, said he and DNR officials haven’t received word about their operations. He added the DNR Central Headquarters would be notified first, but notification throughout all branches of the DNR will take a little longer.
Bruns said some of the state’s larger park facilities could have started powering down as early as Wednesday afternoon, as it would take some time to shut off water supplies, power, and get things tidy. However, most facilities will remain open late into the day Thursday, so campers can at least experience a full day of activities.
“(It’s) mostly business as usual today,” Bruns said about parks and trails operations, as employees don’t know whether they will be working on Friday. If the state doesn’t pass a budget resolution, state parks will begin shutting down at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Alyssa Frank, a natural resources worker at Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park near Preston, which oversees Lake Loise near LeRoy, said she hasn’t seen campers packing up their gear as of Wednesday afternoon. She said people weren’t cancelling their reservations, either. But as of Thursday, state parks will no longer take reservations until a budget is settled.
The city is safe … for now
City of Austin Finance Director Tom Dankert said Austin will not have an immediate funding issue if the state government shuts down.
The city is due to receive more than $3 million in Local Government Aid (LGA) on July 20, and the city is still planning for that money. If the government shuts down and no budget agreement is reached by July 20, Dankert has a backup plan that will keep the city afloat for a short period of time.
“We have a potential cash flow shortage because we planned for that $3.5 million coming in July,” Dankert said. “We’ve got other cash coming to be liquid in this August and September time frame so we can pay for things.”
Dankert said the city has invested money in several areas, including certificates of deposit — at least one of which is scheduled to mature mid-July. If the Legislature and governor have not agreed on a budget solution by July 20, the city’s invested money can be used to fund city departments until the LGA payment comes.
“If (the LGA) doesn’t come in … I’ve got cash invested short-term so I can draw on our cash reserves to fund our operations until LGA pays us back,” he said.
The city’s contingency fund would not be used to fund departments unless LGA is greatly reduced or permanently cut, Dankert said.
City Engineer Jon Erichson will be giving a presentation about how a shutdown could affect construction and flood mitigation projects in Austin at a special City Council meeting Thursday at 5 p.m.
A flood control project will be affected by the shutdown, according to Erichson. There are permits through the DNR, which could be affected by the shutdown as well as some state flooding funding that may not be reimbursed.
A street project on 14th Avenue in front of the Hormel Foods plant won’t begin until after the shutdown.
“We were very concerned about starting a project and having to shut it down,” Erichson said.
One of the most worrying projects that can’t start is a retrofit lighting project at Riverside Arena, which needs to be completed by Aug. 15 if ice can be made on schedule for the Austin Bruins season.
Open education
Schools will still be open in the event of a government shutdown and they’ll be funded as well.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Austin Public Schools Superintendent David Krenz. “We’re planning to stay open.”
Public schools are constitutionally required to stay open, Krenz said. To that end, district officials have spent months preparing for a possible shutdown. Board members allowed for a short-term borrowing credit line with Associated Bank to be opened in May, which would give district officials options to cover costs in the event of a shutdown. Gearin’s court order considering K-12 education an essential service means the district will still receive per-pupil funding from the state if a shutdown occurs. Per pupil funding makes up more than 70 percent of the district’s budget.
Many district employees hope the current budget crisis gets resolved soon, however. Contract negotiations are being held up by the lack of a state budget, which is bad news for almost every union in the district. With the exception of principals, all unionized district employees’ contracts expire this June.
The shutdown also affects Sumner and Neveln Elementary Schools, which are receiving HVAC renovations this summer. If a state contractor can’t certify both buildings for use, they may not open on time. District officials are working with city inspectors and are confident they can get both buildings certified by the time they need to open.
A proposed new grades 5-6 school won’t be affected by the shutdown, as Minnesota Department of Education officials gave a favorable review of the project to district officials earlier this week.
Colleges on course
Riverland Community College officials are breathing easier after state officials allowed the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system access to their money last week.
MnSCU officials were notified by Gov. Mark Dayton’s office June 21 that Minnesota Management and Budget would allow MnSCU to access funds they’ve already collected from tuition and previous state payments.
“We’re all very comforted … that students are going to be accommodated,” said Ron Langrell, Riverland’s Executive Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs last week. “Those are individuals who in many cases are spending their own money to be able to go to school.”
MnSCU officials were worried in early June that a government shutdown would affect more than 67,000 students who are taking summer classes this year. They hoped the MMB, the state’s catch-all department for employee and treasury services, would allow them access to MnSCU funds in order to remain open. Since the MnSCU system only operates on revenue earned from tuition, college staff and faculty could be paid through MnSCU funds and still be considered state employees.
“We are deeply appreciative of the governor’s action to support uninterrupted instruction and services at the state colleges and universities,” said MnSCU Chancellor James H. McCormick in a statement two weeks ago.
Yet instruction and services aren’t safe yet. If a shutdown becomes a prolonged squabble, higher education officials don’t know what the effects will be, specifically with student enrollment and scheduling. Langrell said MnSCU officials were confident their funds would last sometime into the fall semester, but colleges and universities may not be able to collect tuition if a shutdown lasts for longer than a month.