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HHS reports steady budget utilization; placements average about $197 per day after reimbursements
Summary
Staff told the committee that HHS budget utilization through August was roughly in line with elapsed year and that placement costs average about $197 per day countywide after reimbursements; some programs are running higher but are fully reimbursed.
Richland County Health and Human Services staff delivered the department's expenditures and budget summary to the Community and Health Services standing committee on Oct. 2, reporting overall utilization aligned with the year-to-date timeline and clarifying how high-cost placements affect monthly figures.
Staff reported budget utilization through August at about 65 percent, which they said is in line with 67 percent of the year elapsed. They identified two areas running higher than average — CCS at 75.6 percent and Children's with Disabilities at 87.9 percent — but noted both are fully reimbursed programs.
On placement costs, staff explained how a single high-cost placement can distort average per-day figures and offered a county-wide average: "If you take the total of, like, the adult placements, the total expenses of $408,715, that is the cost to the county. And then if you just divide that by the total number of days, right now we're turning in about a $197 a day for people in placements," the administrator said.
Why it matters: the explanation aims to provide context for contract-line items that sometimes show very high per-day rates for an individual placement; staff emphasized reimbursements from CCS Medicaid, client room-and-board contributions and insurance offset much of those costs in many cases.
Staff said placement funds have leveled off while high-cost placements are infrequent, and that corrected spreadsheet formulas addressed prior reporting errors in the placement addendum. They also noted some routine non-recurring expenses in the expenditures report, such as lighting work and postage-meter refills, and that the department is shifting Walmart purchases onto a main credit card after a vendor change.
Committee members asked about potential reimbursement changes to CCS; staff said the program is currently 100 percent reimbursed, but cautioned that a hypothetical change back to a 60/40 reimbursement split would increase county exposure.
The department also reported that the 2026 budget remains under review by the county administrator and that no material changes were made since prior presentations.
