Hennepin County Commissioners Debbie Gautel and Heather Edelson told the Eden Prairie City Council on May 6 that the county is continuing investments in affordable housing, school‑based mental‑health services, embedded social workers that partner with police departments, and local transportation and tree‑planting efforts.

The commissioners framed the update as a status report on long‑running county programs and new allocations: “We are Minnesota’s second largest government after the state of Minnesota and the largest local government unit statewide,” Gautel said, describing the county’s roughly $3.1 billion annual budget.

The county said it awarded $19,500,000 in capital funding in 2024 to create and preserve affordable housing and provided $17,300,000 in local affordable housing aid to boost nonprofit development capacity. Gautel said the county funded 23 projects in 2024; the presentation included counts for rental and home‑ownership units related to those projects.

Gautel highlighted school‑based mental‑health programming that serves about 6,600 students annually and cited a University of Minnesota study the commissioners said showed a decline in self‑reported suicide attempts among sixth‑ through 12th‑grade students tied to the services. “Researchers believe school‑based mental health services have resulted in 260 fewer self‑reported suicide attempts by Hennepin County students from 2004 to 2024,” she said.

Commissioners said the county’s Police Embedded Social Worker program now operates with nearly 50 social workers countywide and that Eden Prairie Police made 466 referrals to embedded social workers in 2024 and 116 referrals through the first quarter of 2025. Gautel said the Hennepin County Board approved an extension of the joint powers agreement with Eden Prairie to continue offering those services.

Edelson and Gautel also reviewed county grant programs the commissioners said are available to Eden Prairie. They described Elevate Hennepin, a free advising hub for entrepreneurs, and several small grant programs including a Healthy Canopy Grant the county said offers up to $50,000 to cities, schools and nonprofits for tree planting. Gautel said the county’s goal is to plant a million trees by 2030 and estimated tens of thousands had been planted since 2020.

On transportation, the commissioners listed planned county projects affecting Eden Prairie: a replacement project on Pioneer Trail (County Road 1), a bridge replacement on County Road 4 (Em‑Prairie Road), pavement and bridge preservation on Townline Road, and partnership work on the I‑494 corridor and the Southwest Light Rail (“Green Line”) that the presentation said is expected to begin service in 2027.

Council members pressed the commissioners about federal and state budget uncertainty. Council Member P.J. Narayan asked whether the chaos in Washington would reduce county funding. Gautel replied two discretionary federal grants had not been awarded and said county staff are “bracing” for more uncertainty; she added that it could take a year or two for cuts to have a substantial local impact. The commissioners said they are monitoring potential state cost‑shifts to counties and that some budget effects could fall to property taxpayers if state and federal aid declines.

The commissioners closed by inviting Eden Prairie to apply for county grants and by thanking the city for partnership on program delivery and local services.

The county update was provided as an informational briefing; no city council action on county programs was taken at the Eden Prairie meeting.