Anoka County commissioner, House chairman talk funding
by T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
An Anoka County commissioner had the table turned on her today (Wednesday, March 23) in a House committee while appealing for domestic abuse shelter funding.
Commissioner Robyn West came before the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee speaking of
House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee Chairman Tony Cornish listens to testimony in committee. (Photo by T.W. Budig)
the valuable services Alexandra House, a shelter in Blaine, provides the area.
Hundreds of women and children have found shelter there when “fleeing for their lives,” said West.
Committee Chairman Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, asked West how much the county provides in funding to the shelter.
West indicated that the county funded Alexandra House from three sources amounting to $70,000.
Cornish styled that a “paltry amount,” and wondered why the county didn’t contribute more.
The Anoka County Board of Commissioners adopted a 2011 county budget of $269 million.
West spoke of tight budgeting and the success Alexandra House has in raising funding.
A number of domestic abuse shelter advocates spoke to the committee, a representative from a Minneapolis group playing a disturbing recording of a 911 message made by a child reporting domestic abuse being committed against his mother.
Cornish eventually told the advocate to turn the recording off.
“We did the best we could do with what we had to work with,” he said.
They realize how important these budget decisions are, and they don’t take them lightly, said Cornish.
Under the legislation, state grants to domestic abuse shelters cannot be reduced more than eleven percent from the base funding.
Democrats on the committee cited varies reasons not wanting to support the bill.
“I hope to God the governor vetoes it,” said a Duluth Democrat.
