Carver County lays out 2026 legislative priorities, warns of growing unfunded mandates

Carver County officials used a Nov. 3 work session to emphasize rising state and federal cost shifts they say are squeezing local budgets and to present a short list of 2026 legislative priorities that the county will press with legislators.

Administrator Dave Hemsey told commissioners the platform highlights 11 items under general government, health and human services, and parks and trails, and frames a single, overarching concern: unfunded mandates that force local tax increases or service changes. "We're asking to remove or revise those unfunded mandates, and if you don't do that, give us funding — help us out instead of shifting the burden to us," Hemsey said.

Why it matters: County staff said several recent and pending state and federal changes would increase Carver County's costs and complicate long-term fiscal planning. Hemsey said the county is recommending a 2% levy increase for three years to help absorb newly identified mandates if state or federal funding does not follow the new requirements.

Major items discussed

Child-protection law and cost estimate: Hemsey and other staff highlighted the Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act (referred to in the meeting by that name) as a major potential cost driver. "We're looking at $3,500,000 just for Carver County," Hemsey said, describing that figure as a multi-year estimate. Commissioners asked staff to press for a delay and further fiscal study at the state level so legislators could reassess costs and pilot results from Ramsey and Hennepin counties that received funding for early implementation.

SNAP and federal shutdown impacts: County staff said an ongoing federal shutdown risk could interrupt issuance of November SNAP and MFIP benefits; Heather Goodwin (Health & Human Services staff) reported roughly 1,600 Carver County households could be affected. "Unless the government does reopen in the next few days ... November SNAP and MFIP food will not be issued for November," Goodwin said, and described daily coordination with food-shelf partners and short-term state advances to food shelves. Staff said existing EBT balances can still be used but no new allotments will load until federal action resumes. The county is monitoring partners and said it is not recommending a county-wide backfill of SNAP benefits at this time.

DMV/license-center fees: Officials described a revenue mismatch: online tab and title fees go to the state, while counties perform in-person licensing work at local centers. Staff requested statutory authority to keep a portion of online transaction fees or a $1 local office fee, saying the county has lost roughly a half-million dollars a year at its license centers as online processing shifted revenues to the state.

Medicaid and other cost shifts: Commissioners identified other shifts in health-and-human-services spending that transfer costs from state/federal levels to counties, particularly in behavioral health and child services. Hemsey said these shifts and other requirements have been a consistent focus in one-on-one meetings with legislators.

Mental-health placements and bed capacity: Staff described several high-cost placements for people designated "DNMC" (does not meet medical criteria) and said one individual's placement is costing the county about $910,000 a year. Commissioners and staff urged the legislature to maintain county relief funding until new state bed capacity comes online. The recent session allocated $50 million to add roughly 55 beds at the Anoka state-operated Miller Building, but staff said those beds will not be available until about 2029 because of demolition and rehabilitation needs.

Technology and SSIS modernization: Commissioners repeatedly urged integrated, user-centered upgrades to aging county systems (SSIS and related systems) to reduce staff time and errors. Hemsey and other staff said roughly $30 million is available at the state level for systems work and that Carver County could propose pilot work (a digital passport and better data flows) to reduce duplication, human capital strain, and fraud risk.

Transportation and parks funding threats: Transportation staff said the regional transportation sales and use tax and a related Transportation Assistance Account feed preservation, active transportation (trails), and transit. Lyndon (transportation staff) warned of a late-session proposal that would shift a portion of that revenue to Metro Transit and reduce county shares; the county would likely prioritize road preservation if revenues were cut. Commissioners also asked staff to add a position defending the local "opt out" transit authority used by some Carver County communities. On parks, Hemsey said Carver County expects about $44.2 million in land-acquisition costs related to Lake Waconia that may need reimbursement and that the county will press that issue legislatively.

Board direction and next steps

Commissioners generally supported a brief, focused priorities document for legislators and asked staff to continue one-on-one meetings with legislators. Hemsey said the priorities would return next week as an action item and staff were pursuing a Dec. 16 legislative breakfast with federal and state delegates.

What the county did not decide at the meeting

No formal policy votes or ordinance adoptions occurred at this work session. Commissioners asked staff to add specific positions (for example, protecting opt-out transit) to the priorities list and asked for additional fiscal analyses and pilot options to be developed before final action.

Sources and provenance

This article uses staff and commissioner statements from the Carver County work session (topic discussion began at approximately 00:05:01). Key supporting transcript excerpts include Hemsey's summary of unfunded mandates and the $3.5 million estimate (topic start) and Goodwin's SNAP update. Topic excerpts: topic intro: "Thank you Mr. Chair. Good morning Commissioners. Do we do each year we'd like to talk about our legislative priorities." (00:05:01). Topic finish: "And by the way, we do include our federal folks, in the mixture on all the communications." (01:04:26).