The Richland County child support agency reported first-quarter 2025 performance to the county Community and Health Services Standing Committee, saying current collections fell below the agency benchmark for February and March and arrears collection was at 72.36% of the 80% benchmark.

The agency director (Rempel) told the committee the drop is linked to an increased number of noncustodial parents who are incarcerated, in treatment programs or who have moved to other states. "We can't enforce it, we can't collect it," Rempel said of cases where a paying parent is incarcerated or in treatment and enforcement depends on another state's cooperation.

Rempel said interstate enforcement can require filing paperwork with the other state and that Wisconsin can be penalized in statewide performance measures even after handing the case to the other state. The director said staff are pulling reports and staying in contact with other states to improve enforcement outcomes.

The presentation covered training and staffing updates: the director completed new-director training and staff have bimonthly leadership meetings; an alternate-care staff member is finishing training for kinship and foster placements. On technology, the agency is preparing for a statewide modernization program called Thrive, expected to roll out to counties in 2027; the vendor has so far told counties there are no anticipated 2026 budget additions related to the system.

On budgets and operations, the agency reported 79.12% of its expenditure budget remaining as of March 31; revenue recognized lags because the state pays quarterly. Rempel said administration is working on a job description and pay scale for a long-standing but unfilled part-time position in the office. The agency also completed a targeted data-cleanup list of seven cases identified by the Department of Children and Families; most involved a participant who was deceased and required court paperwork to close the case.

Committee members asked what resources families lose when current support is not collected; Rempel replied that the family receives less money but that public assistance benefits are not directly affected. Committee members also asked whether recent state budget changes affected operations; Rempel said the Department of Children and Families had not reported any funding cuts to child support as of the report.

The committee received the agency's report; there was no formal committee action recorded on the item.