Wis., Minn. effort to share resources hits some snags

MADISON, Wis. -- As it turns out, mating gophers and badgers isn't so easy. Just ask the bureaucrats in Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are trying to find efficiencies and save money on everything from sharing amusement ride inspectors to buying ammunition and tires.

Nearly five months after Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced an ambitious plan to share some state contracts and operations, many of the ideas have been scrapped as unworkable, delayed or are still being worked out.

The governors originally put the one-time savings at $10 million apiece, but Doyle's office estimated Wisconsin's savings to date at just $74,313, mainly from a better price on software from a Minnesota contract and piggybacking on a Minnesota transportation study. In Minnesota, the savings are even more paltry: About $21,822 in deferred tax collections, and $5,000 in savings on sharing the cost of a radio ad about tree-killing bugs.

Plenty of states cooperate on things like sharing purchases or drawing businesses to border regions, and some towns and counties have tried to consolidate services to save cash. The Wisconsin-Minnesota effort goes much farther, said Chris Whatley, Washington director of the Council of State Governments, a trade group for state governments.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find two other states in the country who are looking for as much of a collaboration as they are," he said.

It was Pawlenty who developed the collaboration idea in January as both states were dealing with massive budget shortfalls. It was quickly dubbed "Minnesconsin," and Pawlenty joked that the state's mascots -- the gopher and badger -- would lie down together.

The AP requested updates from the state agencies and governors' offices in both states detailing the status of projects and how much money had been saved to date. That survey showed the states have agreed to join together in a number of ways but haven't captured much cash.

Wisconsin joined Minnesota contracts for package delivery, software and institutional food. Minnesota joined Wisconsin's fleet fuel card program. They're working together to fight pests such as the emerald ash borer. Minnesota's tourism agency will air radio spots highlighting both sides of the border later this month. The neighbors will have adjoining booths at a biotechnology show in Chicago in May.

But not everything was so simple.

Take a plan to swap young walleye of different sizes to stock lakes for fishing. Minnesota has extra 4- to 8-inch fingerlings, while Wisconsin has infrastructure that Minnesota doesn't to produce frylings, which are a bit smaller.

When natural resources staff for both states met to work out details, they found lots of complications. Moving fish across the state border required an array of tests and documentation for health reasons, such as testing for deadly viruses. It also required tedious paperwork for out-of-state trips to move the fish.

"It's just making sure we think of everything before we do it," said Neil Vanderbosch, Minnesota's fish program consultant. "You get right down to it and somebody will say, `Hey, here's a statute that says you can't do it."'

Some ideas were scrapped completely.

Wisconsin forecasters won't predict the air quality for Twin Cities residents, because Minnesota uses a different system. Minnesota forecasts include the air quality index, a number on a scale of 0 to 300, while Wisconsin relies on a color-coded rating system that covers ranges of air quality readings. Yellow means "moderate;" orange, "unhealthy for sensitive groups;" red, "unhealthy."

Minnesota felt some people with health concerns might want to stay home under some conditions considered "moderate" on Wisconsin's scale. So, instead of working with Wisconsin, Minnesota renewed a consulting contract, and as much as $30,000 in savings went by the boards.

"Right now Wisconsin is furloughing state employees," said Rick Strassman, supervisor of the air quality monitoring unit at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. "I just can't help but wonder if they'd had the time to do this if we had gone forward."

A plan to share some amusement ride inspections also fell apart. The thought was inspections of rides in eastern Minnesota wouldn't have to be repeated when the same rides cross to fairs in western Wisconsin. But Wisconsin inspects more parts of the ride than Minnesota does, so the inspection in Wisconsin would still have to be done, said Zach Brandon, executive secretary of Wisconsin's Commerce Department.

"What we were looking for were areas where we were duplicating effort," Brandon said. "But because we inspect different things, there would be no savings for Wisconsin."

Spokesmen for both governors said the collaboration is just getting started.

"Every taxpayer dollar counts," said Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner. "The savings so far are real and they are just the beginning to more savings and better services for Wisconsin and Minnesota."

Brian McClung, a spokesman for Pawlenty, said the savings will be clearer by next summer after the states have worked together through a budget year. He said the hurdles were expected.

"There are a number of places where the two states take a different approach to the same issue, but that's why we're doing this," McClung said.

Cooperative efforts between states are difficult and unlikely because of the federalist system, said Dennis Dresang, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor who is an expert on federalism. Each state is unique, and merging laws, programs and regulations is difficult.

Other examples where states do work together, like on interstate highway planning, usually don't happen naturally and are forced at the federal level and tied to obtaining federal grants, Dresang said.

"You just can't count on states cooperating," he said.

"The states are much more likely to be in a competitive situation than find any use for being cooperative."

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On the Net:

Wisconsin Minnesota Collaboration Report:

http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid16272

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Associated Press Writer Martiga Lohn reported from St. Paul, Minn.