Arapahoe County human services proposes buying other counties' TANF reserves to avoid state clawbacks

A plan to buy other Colorado counties' temporarily excess Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) allocations was presented to the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners at a March 10 study session as a way to avoid state clawbacks and to smooth the county's projected overspending in multiple human‑services funding lines.

Dan Mikkelke, director of Arapahoe County Human Services, introduced the concept and credited a staff member, "Bob," with developing the spreadsheet that identifies counties likely to lose TANF reserves to state reclamation. Mikkelke said the county is "in a precarious situation" in several funding lines and that buying excess TANF from other counties would let those counties receive relief in the current state…