Dear Neighbors,
I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of the highlights from this year’s state budget—which went into effect on July 1st.
As someone who has a background in healthcare and as a former school board member, I’m pleased with our work to protect our aging population by stabilizing funding for our nursing homes as well as prioritizing our kids by directing new education dollars toward classroom learning. Additionally, I’m proud that we were able to provide new funding – without imposing a new gas tax –for small cities throughout western Minnesota to help fix our roads and bridges.
The following numbers represent the annual change in Medicaid and estimated private revenue for the 2016 rate year for local nursing homes:
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Graceville – Essentia Health Grace Home: $684,003 (31.52% increase)
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Ortonville – Northridge Residence: $1,024,055 (32.27% increase)
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Evansville – Evansville Care Center: $251,234 (13.92% increase)
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Barrett – Barrett Care Center Inc.: $227,924 (13.74% increase)
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Starbuck – Minnewaska Community Health Services: $530,546 (16.50% increase)
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Morris – West Wind Village: $990,201 (23.36% increase)
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Browns Valley – Browns Valley Health Center: $259,487 (11.53% increase)
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Wheaton – Traverse Care Center: $228,466 (9.31% increase)
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Breckenridge – St. Francis Home: $1,540,158 (28.31% increase)
Towns in Douglas, Pope, Grant, Stevens, Big Stone, Traverse, and Wilkin counties with populations under 5,000 will benefit from new transportation dollars to help fix their roads and bridges—as part of the transportation bill passed during the 2015 Legislative Session includes $12.5 million in new funding for small cities for road and bridge aid.
As it pertains to education funding, the school districts of Ashby, Herman-Norcross, Hancock, Chokio-Alberta, Browns Valley, Minnewaska, Wheaton, Breckenridge, Rothsay, Campbell-Tintah, West Central, Morris, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley, Ortonville, and Brandon-Evansville will receive an average increase of $404 per student.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and I look forward to seeing you around as I attend parades and other community events. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding state government or a state agency. It is an honor to serve you and your family in St. Paul!
Sincerely,
Jeff