Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

Time to Transform State-County Partnership

Bemidji Pioneer, April 24, 2009

As legislators and the governor settle into the next several weeks of budget balancing debate, there will be a lot of talk about reforming state government. As it should be.

But lawmakers will miss great opportunities if we focus too closely on the internal operations of state agencies. The reality is that much of the work of state government, from maintaining roads to providing human services, is delivered in partnership with Minnesota’s counties.

Unfortunately, the state-county relationship has worn thin and grown stale in recent years. That’s why Gov. Pawlenty and the Legislature both have been seeking ways to revitalize and reorganize how the state and counties work together in order to bring transparency, flexibility and most importantly efficiency to the delivery of essential services.

To transform the relationship, two fundamental changes are necessary. First, Minnesota primarily measures the success of human services programs simply by tracking how much we spend, rather than measure how those programs actually improve the lives of Minnesotans. As a result counties are discouraged from creating innovative ways to provide better services to more Minnesotans.

Second, the state government too often has insisted on a one-size-fits-all, “we know best” approach that stifles new ideas. But Minnesota is a large and diverse state. As state policy makers we must respect the fact that local officials know best what is needed and what works best in their communities.

Gov. Pawlenty’s proposal begins and ends with forcing counties to consolidate their human services departments. Unfortunately, that does little to change the broken, state-county dynamic. Consolidating government without measuring or improving results simply turns one broken system into a different broken system. You can’t create better government by simply drawing circles on a map and telling county governments in Duluth and Brainerd to work together.

This top-down forced consolidation will lead to higher costs as counties are required to merge systems, data and staff in ways that might not be compatible. The governor hasn’t considered the ramifications of this mandate, nor does he know how much it will cost to implement it. And worse yet, the forced consolidation jeopardizes the dozens and dozens of innovative cooperative projects county governments are already engaged in together across county lines.

For example, in the northeastern part of the state, St. Louis County has a regional agreement with Koochiching, Itasca and Carlton counties for the delivery of the services to our poorest citizens. These consortiums cut down on redundancies, streamline the delivery of services to residents and save taxpayers money while not compromising quality for the bottom line.

I have been pleased to work with Minnesota counties — large and small — on an alternative proposal to achieve the same efficiency benchmarks and cost-savings goals outlined in the governor’s proposal without adding unnecessary mandates on the counties and without undoing significant multi-county partnerships already in existence.

The State-County Redesign Act fundamentally rethinks the relationship between the counties and the state. Under the legislation, county and state officials will come to the table together as equal partners to shape the way social services will be provided.

Both the counties and the state will make transparent commitments about the level of resources each will provide and agree upon measurable benchmarks on how to serve its residents. Indeed, the most important piece of this proposal is the focus on accountability, measurement and results. The legislation will be a revolution in how we do the business of providing services to Minnesota residents.

If effective, efficient delivery of human services is the goal, then “business as usual” mandates like Gov. Pawlenty’s proposal are not the answer. Counties have demonstrated their ability to create efficiencies that lead to service improvement and cost savings. My bill will give counties the flexibility they need to achieve those efficiencies on a statewide level.