It’s a new year in Hennepin County, Minnesota and we enter 2025 with a more than $3-billion-dollar budget, second to only to the entire state’s budget. It can be difficult for taxpayers in Hennepin County to navigate where their money is going. We are taking a deeper dive into what is in each part of the budget.
Not all of the spending comes from taxpayer money. A substantial portion of the funding for programs and services will come from federal, state and grant funding as well as money from services and fees. Hennepin County property owners can expect an additional 5.5% tax levy as part of this budget.
More than $2.5 billion of the budget will go to day-to-day operations in the county. That includes everything from keeping the county’s 41 libraries running, to providing services for the area’s most vulnerable populations to keeping streets plowed in the winter. The budget authorizes nearly 10,000 full-time employees to keep the county running.
County officials say the budget process starts as early as February each year taking the next ten months to finalize. In 2024, the process also included labor negotiations with unions including several locals under AFSCME Council 5. That resulted in 4% annual raises and potential merit increases over the next three years for those workers.
Hennepin County Commissioners developing the budget broke it down into five parts although those could be broken down even further. Those five sections are Health and Human Services, Disparity Reduction and Public Works, Capital Budget and Fees, Resident Services and Operations and Law, Safety and Justice.
One of the largest budgets in the county is for Health and Human Services. The combined budget comes out to nearly $1.4 billion. Nearly 30% of that budget will come from property tax revenue. (Note: the following slides do not reflect $30 million in Administrator amendments later approved by the board)
This county healthcare system provides funding to local hospitals, provides health insurance to thousands in the community, gives life-saving healthcare to those in the county who can’t afford it among many other services like drug abuse assistance and community outreach to keep our vulnerable communities healthy according to the county.
During the last year’s commissioners’ meetings on the budget there was a concern about funding dropping for health and human services. The county says over the last five years they’ve received $124 Million in federal Covid-19 funding which has ended. Still, the budget is expected to grow about 3% in 2025.
Human Services Officials say they will try to make up for losses by leveraging Medicaid funding, working to maximize revenues while looking at areas to reduce spending and trying to prioritize where staff is needed most.
Another priority is investing time and money to prevent deep-end interventions with individuals which can be work intensive and costly. The county says it cost $18.4 million to provide direct care and treatment costs for 396 involuntarily committed adults in 2023. The county has also contracted with Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center which costs the county $2,100 a day per person according to the county.
Hennepin County is also seeing an increased demand for shelter services. County Officials say demand at family shelters can be at 200-400% capacity especially at peak times like the month of January. The county is also seeing applications for economic benefits surge rising nearly 9% between 2022 and 2023, which are the latest numbers available. One hope from county leaders is that the state will update outdated data systems which they say are time consuming and could lead to human error.
The Health and Human Services Budget makes up a large portion of the overall budget, but there are concerns moving forward about how they can keep up the same funding and continue to meet their goals.
Below are links to commissioner videos on the subject and links to budget presentations.
The commissioners’ first meeting of the year is January 7th at 1:30. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is a public meeting meaning anyone can attend at Hennepin County Government Center.
Meeting Videos:
October 7, 2024 – HHS Budget Committee
October 8, 2024 – HHS Budget Committee
Budget Information:
