The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved a joint powers agreement with Anoka and Wright counties for the Midwest Regional Crime Laboratory in Anoka.
All three counties entered into the agreement back in 2008 when the lab was built. At the time, each county’s share of the operations cost was based on population.
Over the past two years, officials from Wright County questioned that formula, claiming their county was paying more than its fair share because it didn’t utilize the services as much as other member counties. At the same time, Anoka and Sherburne county officials were content to leave the formula as it was.
In 2015, the Wright County Board discussed the possibility of withdrawing from the agreement and utilizing the services of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Lab in Hennepin County if the funding wasn’t changed to a more equitable formula.
But last month, the Regional Laboratory Advisory Committee met to discuss possible changes to the formula. At their Nov. 28 meeting, the committee voted to amend the formula.
Beginning in 2018, the formula will be revised to include crime lab usage in addition to population. Instead of population only, 40% of each county’s share will be based on how often they use the facility.
The numbers used for calculating the usage percentage in 2018 will be the total number of requests for service in 2016 for each member county, divided by the total number of requests for service for all counties combined for the same year.
Under the terms of the joint powers agreement, the funding formula will be subject to re-evaluation after the next census, or earlier if all the parties agree.
Sherburne County Commissioner Felix Schmiesing, a member of the advisory committee, said all parties agreed with the change.
“We were fine leaving it as population. But Anoka County made a suggestion to make a small change and that seemed to satisfy Wright County,” he said.
“And it actually helps us a little as well to a small degree. If Anoka County is okay with it, we’re okay with it too.
