State Government Grant Freeze
11/30/01
State Government Grant Freeze Will Not Affect Most Arts Grants, For Now
The MN Dept. of Finance has begun a number of initiatives that are intended to help the governor decide how to deal with the setback in the economy. It is understood that there probably will be some budget retrenchment during the next legislative session, although the amount and nature of the retrenchment is still unknown. What follows is a brief summary of current events.
GRANT FREEZE
As you may know, the Finance Deptartment has sent out a memo telling state agencies to freeze all grant making as of November 20. The good news is that the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) already sent out most of their grants for the year so most of their grantees are not affected, for now, by this freeze. However, unfortunately, as I learned today, the freeze does affect some grants to individual artists which have not yet gone out, in addition to a few arts in education grants. It also affects a few arts organizations who were tardy in returning their grant agreements to the MSAB. As for the Regional Arts Councils (RACs) and their grantees, the freeze does not affect them. The current understanding is that the grant freeze is temporary, but it is too early to tell how this will play out over the next couple of months.
BUDGET CUTS?
The Deptartment of Finance sent out a second memo to its agencies asking each to identify how it would deal with a 5% or alternately a 10% cut in its budget over the current biennium. Each agency is required to complete this work by Dec. 11. There are several more months before the legislature meets to decide how to deal with the setback in the economy and any budget retrenchment. Although the Governor will propose taking care of the deficit with a certain set of cuts, the final decision is in the hands of the Legislature which begins meeting at the end of January. It is too early to know what the Governor will do about the budget or how legislators will want to deal with it. We are concerned about the possible effect on arts organizations of the budget retrenchment, but it is too early to tell what we are facing. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed.