Clay County Commission 

Dan Haglund

The Minnesota governor’s budget includes a lot of cost-shifting toward counties, and it looks like Clay County will absorb its share.
And Clay County’s share of the cuts just in Social Services?
About $146,000, according to Quinn Jaeger, Clay County Social Services director.
Jaeger’s presentation on the projected financial and operational impacts of the 2025 governor’s budget on Clay County Social Services broke down the numbers for the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in Moorhead.
His analysis was based on an internal review of Gov. Tim Walz’s fiscal years 2025-29, with an emphasis on cost shifts, allocation cuts and program implications.
First with the county’s 5-percent share of residential disability waivers, Clay’s amount is set for $1.23 million for 2025, with projections of $1.3 million and $1.38 million in the next two years.
Regarding the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, the current county share is 25 percent, and the proposal raises that level to 40 percent. The represented increase comes out to about $100,000 more in county dollars.
“There really is no way to avoid these costs,” Jaeger said. “As they come from folks who are discharged from or admitted to Minnesota Sex Offender treatment programs.”
Jaeger said it’s tough to budget that particular line item, but he tries to do so by using past trends.
With Substance Use Disorder Services, the budget looks to increase the Behavioral Health Fund from counties footing 22.95 percent of the bill to 50 percent. For Clay County, that would represent a $13,240 increase. This budget kicks in for those who are un-insured or under-insured residents.
Along with these cuts, the administration allocation is set to be eliminated, which accounted for $14,702 in 2024. A previous cut a year earlier had sliced it down from more than $33,000 in 2023.
The total dollar amount for these three areas of cuts runs up to about $146,000.
Jaeger said there are also four stop-gap policy changes to ease the budget shock as well.
The Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS) growth reduction shows those four areas.
The first policy change will be capping inflationary adjustments. The other three include limiting rate exceptions and inputs, limited day- and unit-based services (to eight hours per day), and placing limits on residential services (to 351 billing days per year).
Although counties don’t directly fund most DWRS services, these changes could disrupt service delivery and increase administrative burdens.
Families may turn to counties for help with housing, respite or advocacy. And county case managers will face higher workloads dealing with rate appeals, provider exits and increased crises due to service gaps.
“I believe there will be an increase in demand and reliance on unpaid care givers and relatives that were maybe doing this work not being paid under the waiver-rate system by residential service providers,” Jaeger said.
Commissioner Jenny Mongeau, Dist. 3, said this particular area concerns her.
“Not included as a shift or a cut from the governor’s budget, this one is a substantial cut in the House proposal,” Mongeau said. “I get that these are targets and we have to figure out how they all come together, but a substantial, substantial shift is getting too much to bear.”