State’s share denial about principle, not principal

County part of appeal to recover costs

NEW ULM -- As part of a consortium of counties appealing a denial by the state to pay disaster assistance funds, the Brown County Board on Tuesday voted to go over the bureaucrats' heads to ask Gov. Tim Walz to intervene.

On a motion by Commissioner Dave Borchert of New Ulm seconded by Tony Berg of rural New Ulm, the board unanimously approved a resolution Walz to intervene regarding the state's refusal to pay a 20% cost share for four state-declared disasters, including funds to repair county-owned roads and bridges during 2018-20.

County Engineer Wayne Stevens said the county is "out" about $740 in denied state funds out of the denied total amount of $3.3 million. Brown County's amount owned is relatively small, but Stevens told The Journal the county just wants to be part of the effort to recover the funds as a matter of principle.

"The state is not following its statutes. Together we have a stronger voice," said Borchert.

Brown County and 14 other counties -- Carlton, Cottonwood, Grant, Lyon, Marshall, Murray, Nicollet, Norman, Polk, Redwood, Renville, Rock, Wadena, and Winona counties -- Association of Minnesota Counties and Minnesota County Engineers Association are writing to share concerns with the Department of Public Safety and its denial of Disaster Assistance Contingency Account funds.

The Federal Highway Administration paid 80% of the permanent emergency repairs. The state was supposed to pay the other 20% but denied the request.

Carlton County passed a resolution asking Walz to intercede on their behalf and asked the other 14 counties to pass a resolution.

According to the letter, DACA has about $30 million in unobligated funds, and the pressing events (emergency repairs) are now eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.

When the requests for funding reimbursement for county road and bridge repair projects began in 2020, the DPS denied the requests due to more pressing events such as COVID-19 and civil unrest, according to a May 2 letter from to Walz.

Expecting state reimbursement, the 15 counties expended about $3.3 million in 20% cost share since 2018 and have not been provided with pledged funding from the DACA.

Walz is running for a second term as governor in November.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.)