Minnehaha County

You mean spending money on public safety saves us money in the long run? Get out here!

l3wis March 25, 2009 0Comments

A plan to transform the way Minnehaha County deals with the most chronic cases of homelessness has cut county spending in half while providing improved care, according to a report that county commissioners heard Tuesday.

How long have we been saying this would save taxpayer’s money in the long run? For eternity, it seems. So why did it take the city so long to commit the money? Good question. “Um yeah, I need to see the hard numbers, uh, before I commit anything, um, I won’t cut the check until I know for sure this will save us money, uh, because, uh, we need to put million dollar windows in the Pavilion and a $170,000 shitter at the McKennan park tennis courts, it’s all about REAL priorities,” – Mayor Munson.

Human Services Director Hugh Grogan told commissioners that with stable living arrangements, Safe Home participants are much more likely to use less-expensive health care alternatives such as the Community Health clinic than emergency rooms.

Get out of here! You mean when we give the needy a hand-up they don’t turn around and give themselves a $165 million dollar retention bonus? They actually find ways to be thrifty and cost effective. Maybe they should be compiling the CIP budget for the city everyear.

But the cost savings, commissioners Carol Twedt and Jeff Barth said, simply are an unanticipated benefit.

Even though you were presented 9 million studies that showed we would save money under this program, you still call it a ‘unanticipated benefit’. Um, please have a cup of coffee before you show up to the next meeting and actually listen to the presenters when they are presenting.

Minnehaha County Commissioner Dick Kelly cautioned that the report does not necessarily paint a complete picture of the program’s effects. It “tells us something. I don’t think it tells us a lot,” he said.

Imagine that, a conservative Republican is being negative and cynical about helping the needy. I’m shocked! When is Dick gonna run out of offices to run for?