New Health and Human Services (HHS) mandates passed earlier this year will have a significant impact on the 2016 tax levy in Sherburne County.

 

Because of high-profile child abuse cases in Minnesota last year where children died, there was pressure from the state to make changes. Last September, Gov. Mark Dayton issued an executive order forming the Taskforce on the Protection of Children. That task force went into effect in early October and this year, more strict reporting and investigative guidelines went into effect.

 

In April, the county board approved the hiring of an additional child protection investigator/case manager at the request of Sherburne County HHS Director Mary Jo Cobb.

 

Although the salary of that new HHS staff person is covered by state and federal reimbursements, costs in HHS and other departments, such as law enforcement, the courts and the county attorney’s office, were expected to increase because of increased staff time and more thorough investigations.

 

Earlier this month when the county board approved the 2016 preliminary budget and levy, the courts levy had increased by 49% for 2016, from $168,000 to $251,000.

 

That number could grow even more.

 

“What were seeing here, our CHIPS (child protection services) cases are almost doubling,” Administrator Steve Taylor told the commissioners. “As they go through the system here, we end up paying for court-appointed attorneys and legal services.” 

 

The court puts out the bid and hires attorneys to provide representation for commitments and CHIPS cases. Those costs are paid by county taxpayers.

 

“We’ve got some cost issues, even in 2015,” said Taylor. “We’re frankly over budget on that pretty significantly. So we’re trying to get a handle on what’s going on with these CHIPS cases.”

 

The costs can be tied directly to the new mandates that have been put in place. County Attorney Kathleen Heaney said it will be affecting a number of department budgets very soon.

“That impact will fall initially with Health & Human Services,” she said. “It will then spread through the system to my office and law enforcement.”

 

Taylor said it’s likely the costs will continue to increase.

 

“These are complex cases,” he said. “These numbers aren’t going to go down anytime soon. I think that number may even be low, based on the workload. We’re seeing it’s starting to ripple through the system.”