In August 2022 I was appointed the publisher of a group of three community newspapers, collectively known in Forum Communications Co. as the "Lakes Group." I hadn't been a full-time publisher in a number of years, but I saw an opportunity to return to working in the community newspaper space. And while the gig only lasted 10 months before an eventual company restructuring, it was one of the most rewarding professional stints I've ever had. Hats off the the staffs at the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal for welcoming this old newspaper hack for a great run!
Feb. 22, 2023
By Devlyn Brooks
WADENA — Wadena County Commissioner Jon Kangas didn’t waste the opportunity on Friday, Feb. 17 to share his personal top governmental priority with the two state legislators representing Wadena County in the state House of Representatives.
Kangas, who first proposed that Wadena County should dissolve itself to reduce the tax burden on its own residents at the county’s Truth In Taxation last November, shared the same sentiments with Reps. Mike Wiener and Krista Knudsen.
Knudsen represents House District 5A, and Wiener represents House District 5B. The two representatives met with four Wadena County Board members, County Administrator Ryan Odden and a handful of county department officials in the basement of the court house. Knudsen attended virtually through a video call; Wiener was there in person.
Kangas, who lives near Menahga, in the northern part of Wadena County, contends that because the county has so few residents, they end up paying disproportionately higher taxes versus residents in neighboring counties. For instance, he shared information that Wadena County residents will pay about $1,900 in taxes on a home valued at $250,000 this year. While in neighboring Todd County, residents will pay $1,494. Residents in other surrounding counties pay even less: Cass ($703), Becker ($853), Hubbard ($936), and Otter Tail ($959).
For example, Kangas said if the county’s northern townships were absorbed into another county, he may pay $1,000 to $1,500 less in taxes on his house.
“Small counties can’t make it much longer,” Kangas told the two representatives. “Counties may have to be broken up and absorbed into other counties.”
Kangas said that the county government’s only purpose is to deliver services — such as human services, corrections and transportation — to their residents. He added that residents are well served by their local governments such as school districts, townships and cities. And so most people could care less which county they live in. “It’s only a name,” he said.
Kangas said that Wadena County is the fourth most impoverished county in Minnesota, while it also is the second highest-taxed county in the state. So, just convincing the state to pump more aid into the county isn’t the long-term solution.
“Throwing money at it isn’t always the answer,” he said.
Odden, the county administrator, said that in reality, it’s not necessarily true that the county residents would pay all that much less in taxes, as the services the county provides would shift to whatever new county the residents ended up in. He added with a smile that his position might be the only county job eliminated with such a plan.
Wiener, who talks frequently about the aging population in rural Minnesota, admitted that the state may have to get more creative in the near future as the tax base in rural counties continues to grow older and soon all of those people will be living on fixed incomes.
The state may have to look at a proposal as radical as disbanding counties, he said.
New to the game
Both Reps. Wiener and Knudsen are newly elected to the Minnesota House this year, and both admitted that as freshmen representatives they are still learning the ropes. Additionally, both being Republicans, they serve in the minority party in the House, and so they face challenges trying to implement their own, and their party’s, stated priorities.
In the 2022 election, Minnesotans elected a DFL governor, and Democrats also won enough seats to control both the Senate and the House. This gives them the ability to set the agenda for this year’s legislative session.
One of the byproducts of the one-party control is that Democrats are pushing the pace of how the Legislature usually operates. Wiener said he was told that in a normal session, the Legislature sees 200 to 300 bills introduced by the end of January. This year it was 700, and he said there have been about 2,000 bills introduced in total so far. He said the pace is dizzying.
Both legislators also spoke about their frustration with being in the minority party, as they don’t believe there is much bipartisanship taking place.
“This is politics,” Wiener said. “We try to do the best we can.”
Aid to counties
Commissioner Murlyn Kreklau asked the representatives to focus on House File 1377, which would significantly increase state aid to counties. For instance, estimates show the bill would mean an extra $587,180 in aid to Wadena County.
Current state law will pay Wadena County $1,027,283 this year and only $1,024,317 in 2024, meaning state aid would actually go backward. House File 1377 would pay the county 57.3 percent more.
Kreklau also mentioned House File 1653, which would raise the state’s payments in lieu of taxes funding from $2 an acre to $3 per acre. He said given that the state owns 10% of the 348,000 acres in Wadena County, this would be a huge boost in funding to the county.
“We need more funding from both of those bills,” Kreklau told the representatives.
Wiener said that the budget bills will drive big discussions in the Legislature given the projected $19 billion state surplus this year.
Budget & the surplus
Reps. Knudsen and Wiener said one of the biggest political footballs in state government this session is the budget. On Jan. 24 Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, unveiled a budget including expenditures totaling $65.2 billion while also containing $8 billion in tax cuts — both record highs for a legislative biennium. The governor’s budget would also spend the majority of a projected $17.6 billion state budget surplus on spending and rebate checks.
The governor’s proposed budget has received praise from legislators in his party, which both controls the Senate and House. Republicans, who are in the minority all throughout state government, have opposed the new spending in favor of bigger tax cuts.
Secondly, talk of the Legislature passing a bonding bill is heating up. It would be the first bonding bill in more than two years. Also known as a capital investment bill, a bonding bill is a package of projects to fund state agency requests and local infrastructure projects that are funded with state money and state borrowing.
Last week, the DFL Capital Investment Committee chairs released a proposed $1.9 billion public infrastructure borrowing bill that would borrow $1.5 billion and use $392 million in cash funding for projects from the state’s projected budget surplus.
Wiener said that Democrats are quickly pushing to pass a budget, and possibly a bonding bill, but both representatives on Friday told the county board they’d prefer to wait for more information.
A new state budget forecast is due out in late February, and the representatives said that should provide legislators updated information as to just what the state’s revenue forecast is for this year.
“Until the numbers come out in February, we won’t know what the revenue picture looks like,” Wiener said. Deciding spending priorities before that isn’t productive, he said.
Both representatives said that being freshmen legislators they are not privy to any budget discussions that Republican leaders are having with Democrats.
Wiener told the county officials that he questions whether the state should be considering a bonding bill, which would require the state to borrow money to pay for infrastructure projects all throughout the state, when the state just may have a $19 billion surplus. He linked it to a personal budget: Why would you put more money on a credit card when you have the money to pay for a project?
Commissioner Ron Noon said the biggest priority the Legislature should have is getting more of that budget surplus back to the counties, where it is needed. He said the counties are far more effective in distributing the revenue where it needs to go.
Probation program
Wadena County Corrections Director Kathy Langer pressed the representatives to support, and tell other legislators to support, House File 1838, which would raise corrections funding for counties. She mentioned that all 87 Minnesota counties support the bill.
Langer shared that while some of the state’s counties allow the state to run their corrections program, Wadena and Todd counties have been in a joint powers agreement for two decades. And she says that it has been a good arrangement.
The joint corrections program handles all kinds of probation, including youth probation, adult probation and supervised release for people leaving incarceration. The program currently supervises 700 people, 600 of whom are adults.
“It’s been a good fit for Todd and Wadena counties over the years,” Langer said.
The challenge, she said, is that funding to counties to pay for community corrections hasn’t changed in 20 years, while their costs and caseloads continue to increase.
As the system is currently designed, state funding for corrections is given to the state’s Department of Corrections, which then passes funding down to counties, but the current funding isn’t enough, Langer said.
Langer added that another bill — House File 1048 — would address funding for juvenile probation. It also needs to be supported, she said.
“We are hoping for funding so that all counties get funded equitably,” she said. “We know what works. We need the tools to do that. We need the funding to be able to provide the tools.”
Public health
Wadena County Public Health Director Erica Keppers gave the representatives an overview of what her department does on a daily basis.
The department works in tandem with local hospitals, which may refer families they think could use assistance from public health. After receiving the referrals, they will contact the families and ask if they can make a home visit. Once contact has been established, the department may provide help with nursing, family education, assistance finding heating funds or even help in finding transportation. She added that her department works very closely with the county’s Department of Human Services.
She advocated that any money the state invests in public health will provide a big return on the investment. She said the work public health does can even lessen the number of people who end up in prison “It does save money in the long run,” she said.
She specifically advocated for state funding for two efforts, public health preparedness and educational funding to help juveniles understand the risk of using cannabis.
Counties faced financial struggles during the pandemic because the state does not provide them funding to prepare for potential public health threats. She said to make an investment in public health statewide, eventually, funds should be invested so that counties can prepare for the next public health crisis.
Keppers also mentioned that, judging by the news coming out of St. Paul, it seems that Democrats will pass legislation legalizing the recreational use of cannabis. And if the legislation passes, it will send youth the message that cannabis use isn’t dangerous.
She said that public health will need money to educate youth about the dangers.
Rep. Knudsen said that the leading bill that would legalize cannabis includes about $75,000 for youth education, but she said it was essentially a drop in the bucket. “As it is, it’s not great,” she said of the bill.
Human services
Wadena Human Services Director Jennifer Westrum warned the representatives of a potential impending crisis coming in May when the federal COVID public health emergency ends.
In May, every person who receives medical assistance has to be recertified for the first time in three years.
For Wadena County, which is the fourth most impoverished county in the state, the percentage of people on medical assistance is much higher than in other counties — 38% compared to the average of 25%.
Westrum said this means that her department has three months to recertify thousands of people in the county, a process that will dramatically impact families and children. She said this effort is going to take massive overtime, and that her department is going to need funding from the state to help.
“Forty percent of children in the county are on medical assistance,” she said.
Secondly, Westrum urged the representatives to educate themselves on the need for counties to receive state funding to support providing mental health services. Currently, the state will pay school districts and other entities to provide mental health services, but not counties, even though they find themselves needing to provide the services to support their clients.
“We have to create these services, but we don’t get funding for it,” she said.
Transportation
County Transit Director Randy Jahnke shared with the representatives that funding for county services is falling behind, because of the back-up on the sales of new cars.
Jahnke said county transit services receive funds from three sources: federal money, state money and county dollars. On the state level, the majority of funding comes from the motor vehicle sales tax. And when new cars aren’t being sold, the funds from the state fall off.
He added that the transit department works closely with the human services department and helps to keep costs to the state down when residents have reliable transportation.
Other notes:
Odden, the county administrator, informed Reps. Wiener and Knudsen that he and the county board members will be in St. Paul on Feb. 22 as part of the Association of Minnesota Counties lobbying day at the Capitol. Wiener noted that he saw a meeting with county commissioners on his schedule. Odden encouraged the representatives to reach out to the AMC staff if they weren’t already familiar with them. He said they were a wealth of information on county issues.
Commissioner Kreklau mentioned that he is concerned about what he sees as the Democrats’ social agenda that they are pushing in the Legislature this year. Knudsen mentioned that some of the bills the Democrats are trying to pass scare her, especially a bill that would make Minnesota a “sanctuary” state for children who are seeking transgender medical procedures. “I wish I had better news, but I don’t,” she said. “We have to stop that.” Wiener added that some of what he sees going on in the Legislature makes him wonder. “We live in an area that is pretty traditional,” he said. “Some of these things are hard to relate to.”
Finally, Knudsen encouraged the county commissioners to contact DFL leaders to tell them how “devastating” a mandatory family medical leave bill would be to the state’s business community. Calling it an unfunded mandate on businesses, she said this will affect businesses' productivity and eventually the people they employ. Wiener pointed out that the bill will affect local governments as well, as it will cover all employees.
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