County commissioner warns of federal cost shifts threatening hospital, urges state revenue solution

Kevin Anderson, Henipin County commissioner, told the Greenfield City Council on April 7 that a wave of federal and state funding changes has driven a series of county budget adjustments and personnel reductions and threatened the region’s hospital.

Anderson said a suite of cost shifts — including about $8 million in SNAP-related costs counties must now absorb and another roughly $12 million tied to lost HUD support — has left county finances strained. He said Medicaid funding pressures facing the hospital could amount to an even larger impact next year; staff noted an estimated roughly $40 million county exposure from recent program changes and flagged a possible “hund00 million” impact on the hospital system in conversation.

“The comments that were made were made while we were adding 15 million to last year’s budget to true up some budget overruns,” Anderson said, and added, “I support our sheriff’s department.” He urged the council to consider state-level solutions, saying a dedicated sales-tax mechanism would be one practical stabilizer: “1% sales tax would give us the stability to not have to levy for uncompensated care and it would give us the capacity to address the capital needs.”

Why it matters: Anderson framed the issue as more than a county bookkeeping problem. He said staffing reductions (the county has reduced about 250 positions this year) and cuts to bed counts at the hospital are already in effect and that, absent stable new revenue, the hospital could close. “If it’s not passed though the hospital will close this year,” he said, describing the hospital as a regional trauma center serving patients throughout Minnesota and neighboring states.

Council members pressed for clarity on how cost shifts translate to local property-tax bills and assessed values, and Anderson described the timing effect where prior budget decisions show up on current tax statements. He said county assessors and his office are available to answer residents’ questions about individual assessments.

What’s next: Anderson said the county has passed a resolution supporting a 1% sales tax as one funding option but that the county remains open to other ideas and would seek state action or alternate revenue sources. He encouraged cities and residents to engage on the tradeoffs between sales-tax and property-tax approaches.

Sources and limits: Numbers cited by Anderson were presented by him in his council remarks; some figures were given as approximations during the meeting (for example, an $8 million SNAP cost shift and an ongoing Medicaid exposure described in round figures). The council did not adopt any formal action tied to the county request at this meeting.