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In some ways, parts of Ely’s future are being determined 250 miles away, behind closed doors, inside the walls of the State Capitol and associated office buildings.
By the end of the weekend, the 2025 state legislative session will be done, and at this writing, party leaders from both sides of the aisle and Gov. Tim Walz were getting set to introduce a budget deal that will seemingly end a stalemate in St. Paul.
Whether they complete their work by Sunday or need to come back for a special session, the legislature appears to be closer now than it was a week ago to reaching some sort of an agreement.
But what will it mean for Ely?
It remains unclear as of press time, but there was some good news by way of a news release from State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D), indicating that he helped pass legislation in the Senate that would provide needed aid for area ambulance services.
The HHS Budget bill, SF 2669, creates an Ambulance Operating Deficit Grant Prog2ram at the Office of Emergency Medical Services, which will provide financial support for ambulance services that are operating at a deficit. Additionally, the bill increases Medical Assistance reimbursement rates for ambulance services across the state. While the statewide rate increase is 15 percent, it is 25 percent for rural service areas thanks to another Hauschild provision included in the bill.
That’s very welcome news, but by no means is it a done deal, given that it now moves to a conference committee.
The rest of the picture is murky as well and we’ll have to wait to see what emerges when the smoke clears, the dust settles and lawmakers come to agreement on what makes it and what doesn’t in the final package.
It’s a hold-your-breath moment for leaders of Ely area entities or champions of local projects.
What will budget agreements mean for cities that rely on local government aid or school districts dependent on state funding?
Will St. Paul pony up for rural housing projects such as the one in the works in Ely?
Will there be money for area trails initiatives, and will the state bond for construction projects around the state?
Those are among the many questions that remain to be answered at this writing.
The area’s needs are plenty and Ely has without question reaped the benefits of having advocates on both sides of the political spectrum - with Hauschild a key vote in a divided Senate and Republican Roger Skraba lobbying on the area’s behalf in the evenly divided House.
They’ve got their work cut out for them, particularly with shifts in demographics that put even more power in the hands of lawmakers who live in the Twin Cities or its many suburbs.
We’ve said it before - that there must be a better way to come to an agreement than these last-minute deals, which are generally the norm in St. Paul. But until that day comes, we’re stuck and we’re holding out hope that Hauschild, Skraba and the Range delegation do all they can to protect the interests of Ely and northeastern Minnesota as the deals are made.
