Larimer County Human Services presented its annual August fiscal update to the Board of Social Services on Aug. 20, reporting fiscal-year 2024–25 closeout numbers and how state and federal program changes are affecting county budgets.

Why it matters: county staff said a mix of rising caseloads, underfunded state formulas and new federal policy risks are increasing workload and creating recurring overspend in several allocations. The department will use reserves and county fund balance where closeout redistributions are insufficient.

Heather O’Hare, Larimer County Human Services director, said the department’s total state fiscal-year budget was just over $62 million and noted approximately 82.6% of department funding comes from state and federal sources, with about 17.5% from county funds used largely as required matches or maintenance of effort.

County administration: O’Hare said the county-administration allocation for 2024–25 was about $10.7 million; the department spent approximately $11.4 million and was roughly $750,000 over that allocation. The county contributed about $1.8 million toward administration; the state closeout process returned $581,000 to Larimer County, leaving $169,000 that the county will cover from its fund balance. Under a revised funding model and joint budget committee appropriations, staff said the county’s 2025–26 county administration allocation will grow more than 12% to just over $12 million.

TANF and reserves: the county’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) allocation for 2024–25 was about $7.3 million and spending closed roughly $53,000 under that allocation, which added to TANF reserves. O’Hare said the TANF allocation is projected to decline by 5% for 2025–26 to about $6.9 million while basic cash assistance payments increased by 4.8% under recent legislation; the department estimates it may need about $700,000 from TANF reserves to cover FY25–26 costs.

Child care (CCAP): the county has operated a CCAP freeze since Feb. 1, 2024, to remain within its allocation; staff said Larimer is serving 527 families (about 796 children) and that the county’s CCAP allocation for 2024–25 was about $8.4 million. The department told the board it did not receive a share of an earlier $15 million statewide appropriation but will receive a modest ongoing increase tied to a $10 million state appropriation; Larimer’s portion of that ongoing increase is about $250,000. County staff said converting from a freeze to a waitlist would likely require close to $1 million in annual allocation increases and that provider rate increases becoming effective Oct. 1 will consume part of the new funding.

Ending note: county staff said they will return Oct. 8 with program-level data and options to manage workload and fiscal risk as federal HR1 changes and state budget choices unfold.