The terms "cost shift" and "unfunded mandate" come up at a lot of the school board and county commissioner meetings that I attend.
They refer to passing the buck in a literal sense: shifting the cost from the State of Minnesota to local government.
When Ken Tschumper, our new District 31B legislator, appeared at a county board meeting recently, commissioner Larry Graf gave him an 11-page document called "Summary of duties being shifted from state to counties and unfunded mandates." It goes from 1996 to the present.
I wonít go into all of them here. Itís actually pretty dull reading, but important, and I commend the county for taking the time to document it.
There is one instance though that is quite sobering and worthy of some collective venting. It involves a person whose name the county cannot release. Letís call him Sleazeball McGee. (I admit Iím biased.)
I gleaned some information about Sleazeball McGee. He was convicted in 1985 and again 1990 of attempted first degree criminal sexual conduct. One of those crimes occurred in Houston County. After his sentence expired in 1995, he was civilly committed to the Minnesota State Hospital in St. Peter as mentally ill and dangerous. He escaped from there in 1999 and again in 2003. Both times he used drugs and alcohol and had unprotected sex with prostitutes, even though he knew he carried the hepatitis C virus.
Like I said, a fine upstanding young man.
Why does this matter? Because Sleazeball McGeeís diagnosis was changed in 2006 by a judicial appeal panel to paraphelia, or sexual sadism. Hereís the Catch 22: Sleazeball McGeeís previous classification of mentally ill and dangerous was covered by Medical Assistance (MA). In other words, the federal government was paying for his commitment.
But MA doesnít cover his current diagnosis of paraphiliac. Therefore, the cost of his commitment was "shifted" to Houston County because that is where his original crime occurred. Lucky us.
The cost of his commitment is $388 per day.
Human services director Beth Wilms informed the county board about this on November 7, 2006. Since then county attorney Rick Jackson has been working to get MA to cover the new diagnosis. Jackson told me on January 18 that he is exploring a couple options. "And nothing is yet cast in stone," he said.
So this situation isnít totally settled. And as of yet the county has not paid any money for Sleazeball McGeeís commitment. But if it sticks, this cost shift really is the ultimate insult. A guy is convicted of sexual assault (twice), is civilly committed, and we have to pay $141,620 per year for that privilege? And we arenít even allowed to know the identity of Sleazeball McGee.
Thereís only one word for that: unbelievable. Well, I guess there are a few other words. But I canít print them here.

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