In the coming weeks, we plan to talk with Minneapolis officials about Mayor Frey’s budget. It’s set to be released Wednesday, August 12, and it’s already generating buzz. Residents are being told to expect layoffs of more than 100 city employees, along with other departmental cuts. Minneapolis, like many cities, is finding itself stretched to provide services on lower tax revenue.
A recurring question for us is why the city seems to get blamed for everything that goes wrong, even when much of what draws attention is actually a county responsibility. For example, city council members are exploring Safe Outdoor Spaces, a program modeled on one in Duluth that would let people sleep in a designated area in their cars. That kind of program could be seen as the city stepping into the county’s role. Hennepin County already spends 26.8% of its budget on human services for vulnerable residents and another 21.2% on health care programs, including Hennepin County Medical Center.
Homeless outreach, street-level violence outreach, Youth Group Violence Intervention, the Next Step Program, and Community Violence Prevention Services are all county programs, yet Minneapolis seems to duplicate many of these efforts. Still, when a problem arises, people rarely think to write to their county commissioner, let alone to Hennepin County Administrator Jodi Wentland. Most residents don’t realize there’s an unelected mayoral equivalent overseeing a budget even larger than the city’s.
The county administrator is appointed by the seven county commissioners and runs the county’s day-to-day operations. Instead of a mayor-council system, the county uses a board of commissioners-administrator arrangement.
Wentland may well be doing a fine job; it’s hard for us to say. We don’t have the resources to follow county politics as closely as we’d like. But a few recent stories caught our attention. First, the Hennepin County library system is limiting staff hours even as usage is up. Library Director Scott Duimstra announced the planned cuts last Thursday as the system works to close a $5 million budget gap.
The library cuts are harder to accept set against the $2.25 billion in additional funding the county has approved for the Blue Line light-rail extension, and the county is reportedly asking the Metropolitan Council for additional funding to cover a shortfall. Many residents are also familiar with the serious financial losses at Hennepin County Medical Center this past year, which required state support to stay open.
It adds up to a pattern: huge projects, huge budgets, and unless you’re following closely and digging into the stories, you probably have no idea who’s making these decisions. You didn’t vote on them. All 17 members of the Metropolitan Council are appointed by the governor, meaning that if you care about regional planning, transit, and infrastructure across the seven-county metro area, your best channel of influence is understanding the philosophy and priorities of whoever holds that office.
This week, all eyes will be on the results of the August 11 primary. Among county commissioner races, Districts 2 and 3 have competitive fields; no one is running against Angela Conley in District 4. Once the primary and the mayor’s budget are behind us, Better Minneapolis plans to reach out to Jodi Wentland. We’d like a fuller picture of how she views the role, her governing principles, and what her next budget is likely to include.
For context: the library’s budget is roughly $40 million, or about 1.3% of the county’s $3.15 billion total budget. A $5 million cut represents a 12.5% reduction to that specific budget. We’re watching to see what other resident services may be asked to scale back next.
