City Out Almost 100K Due to Shutdown

As a result of the shutdown, the city of Burnsville might have a $100,000 hole in their monthly budget.

“We have several payments that will be late in coming, which means that the city will need to provide the cash flow,” said City Manager Craig Ebeling. “Those bills will still need to be paid.”

Most state agencies have been paralyzed after the GOP-led legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton failed to come to a compromise on how to solve the budget deficit. The state officially shut down on Friday at midnight.

The shutdown could spell disaster for some Minnesota cities, though the effect will be muted locally. On a whole, Burnsville is far less dependent on the state than other cities in Minnesota. The city is not a recipient of Local Government Aid, a cash infusion that is distributed twice a year to cities with meager property tax returns to allow them equal access to police protection, road construction and other vital city services.

However, Burnsville does receive a small portion of revenue directly from state coffers. Other revenue streams are processed through state agencies, which means that in the absence of state workers they will be on hold. Among the missing funds are a $20,000 contribution to the police and fire retirement fund that normally comes in July, a $10,000 payment for ambulance services, and a $25,000 payment from the Minnesota POST Board.

The city also receives a continuous stream of revenue from traffic citations and other criminal fines that typically amounts to about $45,000 a month. Ebeling said city officials are not sure how the shutdown may affect the flow of court revenues.

Ebeling said the city has but one option: To dip into reserves to pay the bills until the state’s budget impasse is over. For the short-term, that will not be a problem. However, the city’s resources will be stretched thin if the shutdown becomes a protracted affair.

“Theres a limit to that. We have no idea how long this going to go on,” Ebeling said. “Unless it’s a terribly unreasonable length of time we should be OK.”

Other impacts of the shutdown are less direct. For instance, in the event of a large grass fire the city would not have access to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which is responsible for flyover firefighting in those situations. The state fire marshal’s office will also be MIA.

“If we have a fatal fire the state will have recall investigator off of the layoff which will probably take longer,” said Fire Chief BJ Jungmann.

For a time, it was also thought that the city would not be able to call on HazMat teams or bomb squads provided through the state. Burnsville does not have these specialized services. Instead, the city relies on the state or units from neighboring towns to handle certain dangerous situations like a bomb threat, structural collapse or chemical spill.

“We get that through the state duty officer at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who is on call 24-7. The state contracts with these teams and the duty officers calls them up as necessary,” Jungmann said. “Initially these teams were notified that they would not be intact, but that was revoked with last week’s ruling. That was deemed essential.”

Road construction in Burnsville will also be affected by the shutdown. Ebeling said that work on the Highway 13 and County Road 5 interchange will come to standstill.

“That is a cooperative project between the federal government, state, Dakota County and the city,” Ebeling said. “The state’s part is to do the design. If the designers at (the Minnesota Department of Transportation) aren’t at work that means that project wont progress.”

The same will hold true for people seeking permits and business licenses that require state inspections. Restaurant kitchens, for instance, must be inspected by the Department of Health before they can operate. That often snags up city bureaucracy as well, since many building permits and other documents issued by the city require these inspections before an application can be approved.

 Ebeling said that the city could experience other, unforeseen impacts as the shutdown lingers.

“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for quite a while. There’s a lot all of us don’t know and as much planning as people try to do things will crop up,” Ebeling said.  “We’d be very pleased if they could reconcile. Until then, we’re going to do the best we can. The lights will be on at city hall.”

For a complete list of shutdown coverage on Patch, click .