Commissioner's view: St. Louis County ready to meet tough challenges

Responding to a crippled economy and public demands for less taxation, the St. Louis County Board has learned how to do more with less.

The challenge before us now has become “doing less with less.”

All of us have been watching the news about the state’s budget problems with great interest, looking for information about how the state’s decisions will affect St. Louis County. The state’s February budget forecast contained some good news in that the expected budget deficit for the 2010-11 biennium was reduced from $1.2 billion to $994 million. However, that good news was tempered with estimates for the next biennium of 2012-13, now showing a possible shortfall of as much as $7.9 billion when inflation and the General Assistance Medical Care fix are added.

Although the information seems to change daily, given the fact that the state is facing a massive deficit once again, cuts in funding to county governments are inevitable. While we don’t know the final outcome of the tug-of-war between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature, we do know it will not be good.

On a more positive note, recent news coming from the county has been very good. The sale of the historic old jail and the sale of tax-forfeit lands back to the Fond du Lac Band garnered editorial praise from the News Tribune (Our View: “A welcome pair of County Board votes,” March 3). So did the lease of the Chris Jensen nursing-care facility to a private entity while maintaining jobs and providing ongoing care services to residents and their families (Our View: “Get government out of where it doesn’t belong,” Sept. 9). Also, we have had productive and respectful dialogue with AFSCME, which represents the largest bloc of our employees, and a contract settlement appears to be within reach — without picketing or finger-pointing. And the most recent county budget was achieved without overburdening property owners, despite lost county aid and other revenues.

Unfortunately, these lost funding supports are likely to be permanent and will impact our ability to maintain current service levels. In the past, serious budget reductions have been addressed by hiring freezes and cutbacks on travel,

capital expenditures and other small items to delay more drastic measures until a later date. However, that “later date” has now arrived.

The County Board and county employees are committed to working together to best serve our citizens despite continued tough fiscal times. The strength of St. Louis County government is its employees, but that work force has shrunk by 25 percent in the last eight years. Less revenue and fewer workers require us to make difficult decisions in a smart, sensible, fair and limited fashion as we look ahead and build upon recent successes.

St. Louis County is committed to finding new, cost-effective opportunities to serve its residents throughout the region, including partnering and collaborating with cities, townships and other counties wherever possible. Soon St. Louis County will be engaging these local government officials in a series of conversations designed to identify these opportunities to achieve our shared goals of improving communications and synergy.

No matter what happens in the future, the county will continue to meet the challenges ahead through the dedication of its employees and a commitment to excellence in public service.

Steve Raukar of Hibbing is chairman of the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners.

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