Frustrated that the state’s solution to its budget woes is to shift costs for services onto Minnesota’s counties, Rice County Commissioners Gerry Hoisington and Charlie Peters say it’s taxpayers who will pay the price.
If shifts in Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed 2026-27 budget associated with four Human Services programs are approved, another 5.1% ($2.3 million) would be added to the county’s 2026 property tax levy, according to Rice County estimates.
That figure, said Administrator Sara Folsted, doesn’t include cost of living adjustments, inflationary adjustments, health insurance increases and other necessary governmental expenditures as well as other proposed cost shifts.
Also expected: Rice County’s cost share for the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, will be at least $156,000. Aid to help counties remove aquatic invasive species and proceeds from the sale of cannabis products currently distributed to each county are also on the chopping block.
“It’s not sustainable,” said Peters, who along with Folsted, Hoisington and Commissioner Jim Purfeerst, met with state legislators during a Feb. 26-27 legislative conference sponsored by the Association of Minnesota Counties.
Particularly troubling is the governor’s proposed 5% county cost share for residential services for those considered physically and developmentally disabled.
He’s also recommending an increase in the counties’ share for individuals who are receiving sex offender treatment or for substance/chemical abuse.
Unfunded mandates and cost shifts have long created problems for counties. Mostly they’ve covered state budget shortfalls, such the $6 billion deficit anticipated by the 2028-29 biennium announced March 6.
Many of the services Minnesota counties provide are required by the state, but the state often underfunds – or doesn’t fund – those services. Then there are the shifts in which the state increases the percentage counties pay to provide required services, leaving counties with little choice but to push those costs onto property taxes.
Peters, who recently attended Lonsdale and Morristown City Council meetings, says he’s let city leaders know the Board of Commissioners won’t likely escape a levy increase. And that, he says, puts cities and school districts -- which have needs of their own – in a difficult spot.
“It behooves everybody to get involved and talk to their legislators,” said Hoisington. “Because the buck stops with your property taxes in Rice County.”
