Workforce programs may face cuts

The state’s workforce development programs could be facing nearly across-the-board cuts, members of a House division learned.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s supplemental budget plan includes $10.3 million in cuts to the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Commissioner Dan McElroy discussed the proposed cuts Feb. 23 with members of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Finance and Policy Division. No action was taken.

Combined with $570,000 in unallotments he made last year, the governor’s proposal amounts to a 4.8 percent cut to the agency’s $81 million biennial base budget, plus $6.9 million in one-time transfers from DEED dedicated funds into the state’s General Fund.

In addition to reducing the agency’s operating budget, the cuts would affect numerous organizations and programs that receive funding through DEED grants. State Services for the Blind, the Independent Living Program and the Job Skills Partnership Program are among the many initiatives that would be affected.

McElroy said most grantees would see a roughly 6 percent cut.

“Every one of these has some impact. I would be disingenuous to say you can cut this kind of money and not have in impact. You can’t,” McElroy said.

McElroy said other impacts of the governor’s plan could include:

• fewer people served by the Extended Employment Program, which helps disabled Minnesotans maintain jobs;

• fewer projects funded with Contaminated Cleanup and Investigation grants; and

• job vacancies in the agency would be left open.

Division members also received an update from Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Steve Sviggum on the governor’s supplemental budget plan for his agency.

According to Sviggum, only $1 million of the department’s $248 million budget comes from the state’s General Fund; the rest is funded with a variety of fees. He said the governor’s plan would reduce the agency’s funding by $16,000, with the only potential impact being slight time delays on labor standards investigations.