Golden Valley Residents Will Be Able to Go to the Minnesota Zoo During the Shutdown

Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin ruled Saturday afternoon that the Minnesota Zoo can be open during Minnesota’s government shutdown.

She also ruled, however, that Shakopee’s Canterbury Park and Forest Lake’s Running Aces may not operate until the state’s budget debate is resolved.  

In her zoo decision, Gearin used a standing appropriations rule to determine that fees garnered from parking, concessions, admissions, donations and memberships should be returned to the Apple Valley facility.

Gearin’s ruling read: “The statutes regarding zoo special revenue funds do not appear to the court to require a decision by the legislature before they can be appropriated.”

The zoo was scheduled to reopen to the public at 9 a.m. today.

The Minnesota Zoo receives approximately 29 percent of its revenue from the state and—because it was deemed non-essential in Gearin’s June 29 ruling—those funds will be unavailable for the duration of the shutdown.

Gearin’s ruling on the ponies went the other way.

On Saturday afternoon, she denied petitions from Shakopee’s Canterbury Park and Forest Lake’s Running Aces harness racing track, saying the Minnesota Racing Commission must request state funding. Without a biennial budget in place, no requests for funding can be made.

Like the zoo, neither track was considered an essential function in Gearin’s June 29 ruling.  

In contrast, Gearin said she ruled in favor of the zoo because she “was unable to find any bills from the 87th legislative session” dealing with appropriations to that facility.   

According to the Star Tribune, Canterbury Park laid off 1,000 employees in the lead-up to the July 1 government shutdown while Running Aces laid off 600 workers.

Nonprofits hearing

In another courtroom at 8 a.m. Friday, Special Master Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz began hearing petitions from a bevy of Minnesota’s nonprofit organizations requesting shutdown funding.

The organizations were not included in the initial ruling of critical core services written by Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin on June 29.  

Blatz heard appeals this morning from organizations as varied as the Minnesota Aids Project, Partners for Affordable Housing and the Minnesota coalitions for battered women (MCBW) and the homeless.   

The entire court docket can be found here.

Blatz will consider the arguments made and the degree of authority she was given to expand the list of critical core services. She could rule as early as this weekend.

Governor and the GOP

Gov. Mark Dayton told MPR News on Friday that budget negotiations between himself and GOP lawmakers need a “breather.”

The governor said he is willing to listen to proposals and even meet with Republican leaders over the weekend but if no offers were made he would “reach out” to them sometime Tuesday.

The governor met with DFL leaders around 9 a.m Friday but details of the talks are being kept strictly confidential. According to KSTP-TV, Dayton was in his office all day working on a compromise deal.

After weeks of intense negotiations, capped by closed-door sessions through the waning minutes of June 30, Dayton and Republican lawmakers failed to agree on an operating budget for the 2011-13 biennium.

The proposed budgets from the governor and GOP lawmakers remain separated by $1.4 billion.

Follow the latest shutdown developments:

July 3: Other News Organizations' Stories About the Shutdown

Golden Valley Residents Will Be Able to Go to the Minnesota Zoo During the Shutdown

July 1: Golden Valley Legislators Frustrated by Minnesota Shutdown

Golden Valley-Area Parks Open This Holiday Weekend

Golden Valley Braces as Minnesota Government Shuts Down

Golden Valley Nonprofits Say the Shutdown Will Hurt the Vulnerable

June 29: 

June 28: 

June 23: 

June 17: 

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