Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins appeared at the Minneapolis League of Women Voters Civic Buzz on October 2, 2018. Although she claimed to be budget challenged she proceeded to review and explain the major Hennepin County budget items and their impact on the public.

Higgins, a former member of the Minnesota Legislature announced her retirement from the county board and as she says, "I'm heading north," to a family cabin in Northern Minnesota.

Hennepin, the most populous of Minnesota's 87 counties, has 1,184,332 residents in 45 municipalities, occupying 611 square miles. She reported that 39% of the proposed $1.9 billion county budget goes to health and human services with 25% of the residents receiving direct services from the county. The county board has trimmed $2 million already from the request submitted by the County Administrator. The 2018 budgeted expenses were $2,379,198,742.

Range of services include Transportation and Infrastructure, Public Safety and Corrections, Environment and Natural Resources and Elections.