Minnesota senators and county officials warned this week that proposed cuts in the governor's budget to human services — including disability waiver services — would shift costs to counties and could reduce services for more than 100,000 residents who rely on care.

Sen. Jim Abeler, R., who serves on the Senate human services committee, said the state spends heavily on disability services but that the system “doesn't always give people the results they want.” He said Minnesota's General Fund spending on human services over a two-year period is “20,000,000,000 or better” when federal matching funds are included, and that more than 100,000 people rely on services provided through waiver programs.

Abeler said the state's assessment system (MNChoices) and the rate-setting and waiver processes are “very complicated” and contain so many exceptions that “more than half the people are on workarounds,” making the system unreliable for families. “If you have a system that's got that many workarounds, let's fix the system,” he said.

County officials who visited the Capitol said the governor's proposal would shift substantial costs to local government. A county commissioner quoted at the Capitol said, “Shifting costs to counties will directly impact property taxes and will affect the most vulnerable populations who are already struggling to pay basic needs such as housing, grocery, and health care.” The report on the proposal described $1.5 billion in human services reductions, including $460 million the administration characterized as cost shifts to counties.

County leaders told senators they are willing to work with the Department of Human Services and the legislature to identify savings that do not rely on shifting costs to property taxpayers. “We are here to be part of a conversation to collaborate with our Republican and Democratic leaders alike,” one county official said.

Abeler framed the debate in fiscal-priority terms, saying lawmakers should differentiate “essential, important, and nice” programs when balancing a forecasted shortfall. He said prior spending decisions left the state with a deficit and argued that some previously added programs were not priorities compared with nursing homes, hospitals and disability services.

The interview and county statements were part of ongoing committee discussions this session about Senate File 401 and Senate File 402, measures that relate to home- and community-based waiver services and rate-setting. Those bills were discussed in committee but no committee-level adoption was recorded in the session segments reviewed.

Lawmakers and county leaders said they expect more detailed budget negotiations and policy work as the session continues, and urged families and stakeholders to participate with concrete suggestions rather than partisan attacks.