Roseville State Worker Glad Shutdown is Over

John Ridge said earlier this month he was looking forward to retiring. 

Now, the Roseville man, who has worked in collections for the Minnesota Department of Revenue for the past 25 years, is glad to be returning to work after a nearly three-week shutdown of state government that occurred because of a  budget stalemate between the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton. That shutdown ended Wednesday when Dayton signed 12 new bills into law, including a new biennial budget. 

Ridge will be reporting for duty at 8:45 a.m. today at the Revenue department' building in St. Paul. 

"I'm happy it (the sutdown) has ended," said Ridge, 56. "It's maybe not under the best circumstances," he said, noting the Republicans entrenched stand on no new taxes didn't help end the settlement on the best note.

"On the otherhnad, if they (Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature) had continued to argue and debate on other sources of revenue, it would have done more damage," Ridge said.  

Ridge has worked in the last 3 years with the Taxpayer Rights Advocate Office and has been with the state of Minnesota for nearly 35 years.

“I want to retire on my own terms,” Ridge, 56, said earlier this month when the shutdown was less than a week old. “I want to see how things are going.” 

Now, Ridge said it will be good to be back on the job even though he did get some house projects finished.

While he and his wife Cindy were able to financially weather the shutdown, Ridge said it felt strange to get his first unemployment pay on Wednesday. The $578 in jobless pay he received from his first week out of work was less than half of his normal salary, Ridge said. 

"I haven't gotten one of those (unemployment checks) since I was about 22 years old," Ridge said. 

Meanwhile, Ridge said, "I will be reassessing my decision to retire.  It seems I am continually reassessing my decision as each day rolls by, but  I am still looking to retire in the next month or so."