Frustration Sets In For Woodbury Couple As Shutdown Drags On

Woodbury resident David Salchow had knee surgery the day before the state government shutdown, and it would be nice for him to have a new air conditioner as he recovers during these sweltering summer days.

But Salchow and his wife, Krista Boston, have decided to hold off on buying a new air conditioner. In fact, Boston said she woke up Monday morning and considered cutting the phone, Internet and cable.

Salchow and Boston are both employed by the state, and since the government shut down, they’re starting to worry more about their finances. So is their 10-year-old son.

“He keeps asking if we’re going to starve,” Boston said. “It’s just his age.”

Boston is the state director of the Senior Linkage Line and Salchow works as an auditor with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Both will receive a reduced paycheck later this month—their last until Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP leadership hammer out a budget agreement. They have two children.

While Boston said she’s been frustrated with how things have unfolded for her own family, she is also concerned for the thousands of Minnesota seniors who utilize state services, especially with open enrollment for Medicare coming a month earlier this year.

“I’m an advocate at heart,” she said.

State workers aren’t “riding the gravy train,” Boston said, and she said she’s upset by an anti-government sentiment among some Minnesotans. Her department has been downsized several times in recent years and most years she doesn’t get a raise—all while the cost of living increases.  

“There are no slackers in my group. They are about the mission—we’re here serving grandmas and grandpas,” she said, adding later: “People think we’re living high on the hog, when we’re families like everybody else. Gas is going up, health care is going up, daycare is going up.”

The couple, for the first time, has applied for unemployment benefits, Boston said, and even before the shutdown they began to curb their spending. She’s also worried about possible impacts to schools—she has a son with autism who attends in Woodbury.

“I’m confident that this is going to be resolved, but there’s no sign of it,” Boston said.

For the first time this year, Boston said she voted Republican. She blames the shutdown more on the GOP than Dayton—Republican leaders proposed packages they knew would be rejected by the governor, Boston said.

Still, she said Sen. Ted Lillie and Rep. Andrea Kieffer (both Republicans) have been good about corresponding about her concerns.

Boston, too, has been corresponding with her Senior Linkage Line staff, trying to keep up morale. Many are young people or newly married individuals who will likely feel the impacts of the shutdown, she said.

“People are going to really start panicking,” Boston said.

If you're a senior who needs support services during the shutdown, click here.