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Community services to end long‑standing HCA indigent‑care agreement, redirect funds into housing and local programs
Summary
Community Services presented a reduced FY26 general‑fund base and several program changes including nonrenewal of a 40‑year indigent‑care agreement with Central Florida Regional Hospital, a realignment of low‑income pool contributions and insourcing supportive housing services.
Allison Thall, director of Community Services, told commissioners she is recommending several program adjustments and rollbacks that together reduce the department’s FY26 general‑fund ask while reallocating resources toward homelessness and affordable housing programs.
Thall said the total Community Services FY26 request is $21 million and that the FY25 budget included one‑time federal and state grant amounts that are not carried forward in the same way. She proposed not renewing a four‑decade indigent‑care agreement the county had with Central Florida Regional Hospital (HCA). Thall said the contract was historically modestly used and that the county’s current network of indigent‑care providers and Medicaid contributions have expanded. The department estimates a reduction in county cost of about $362,412 by ending the contract.
Thall also said the county will realign its contribution to the Agency for Health Care Administration low‑income pool to reflect Seminole County’s population share, reducing that line by roughly $195,254. On program operations, Community Services plans to bring a permanent supportive‑housing program that had been outsourced back in‑house. Thall said the current outsourcing cost is “just over $208,000”; moving the work to county staff, she said, will use about $148,000 in direct staffing costs plus roughly $60,000 for street outreach but should yield higher service levels at a roughly neutral budget impact.
Thall told the board she will roll community assistance awards back from $1 million in FY25 to the FY23‑24 allocation of $842,233, saving $157,767. She also told commissioners that vacation‑rental registration fees will flow into the county’s general housing trust fund and that ARPA seed funding of $2 million has already supported a revolving credit program for affordable housing developers, producing more than 20 affordable homes in various stages of construction or occupancy.
What’s next: Community Services will return with the formal FY26 grant list as agreements are finalized, and staff will present the in‑house staffing plan for the supportive‑housing program and updated homelessness funding allocations as the board finalizes priorities.
