Hennepin County presents 2026 human services budget and emergency plan as federal food-assistance cuts loom

Hennepin County leaders presented the Human Services 2026 proposed operating budget and detailed an emergency operational and policy response on Oct. 23 as federal changes threaten to interrupt food-assistance and other safety-net benefits.

The Human Services department requested a $846,100,000 operating budget for 2026, a 0.5% ($4.6 million) reduction from the 2025 adjusted operating budget, and proposed using $60,200,000 of fund balance. County staff told commissioners the 2026 request reflects a 1.8% ($5.8 million) increase in property tax support for human services while targeting a department workforce of 3,718 full-time equivalents (FTEs), down roughly 6% from 2025 by managing attrition and work allocation.

County officials emphasized that the budget must be read alongside a parallel operational response to near-term federal changes affecting SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and MFIP (Minnesota Family Investment Program). Reggie Wagner, director of economic supports, told the board the county has about 110,000 active SNAP recipients and that Minnesota has roughly 440,000 people on SNAP statewide. He said SNAP payments are staggered over early November and that an interruption could affect families at different dates rather than a single day.

Commissioners said they were focused on both immediate operational steps and on building a single strategic request to the state to avoid a series of one-off appeals. County Administrator Jody Wendland warned against creating dependency by repeatedly solving problems that are primarily the state or federal responsibility, saying, “When we solve for someone else’s problem, we teach them that they can dump the problem on us.”

Why this matters: SNAP, WIC and MFIP provide routine monthly food and cash supports to families, seniors and people with disabilities. County staff warned that reduced federal funding or new work requirements could sharply increase demand at food shelves, shelters and county programs during the final months of the year and into 2026.

Key budget and financial details - Human Services proposed operations budget (2026): $846,100,000 (0.5% decrease from the 2025 adjusted budget). - Proposed Human Services FTEs (2026): 3,718 (a reduction of about 6% from 2025 payroll levels). - Proposed Human Services fund balance use (2026): $60,200,000 (down from $70,000,000 used in the 2025 adjusted budget). - County-wide proposed 2026 budget (as cited at the hearing): $3,090,000,000; the county board adopted a maximum property tax levy increase of 7.79% on Sept. 25, staff said.

Officials described drivers of human services cost growth since 2019: personnel costs and rising public-aid expenses (shelter, food supports and contracts). Human Services leaders said personnel costs grew on a per-FTE basis by roughly 31% from 2019 to the 2026 request, and public aid rose from about $213 million in 2019 to $268 million in the 2026 budget.

Operational response and near-term risks County staff described a layered response they have stood up since July to monitor federal and state changes and to meet expected service demand. Elements of the response include: daily coordination meetings across public health, economic supports and community partners; temporary reallocation of staff to manage application surges; identifying county facilities suitable for WIC in‑person visits; and plans to leverage state IT fixes where necessary for MFIP cash payments.

County staff summarized caseloads and program capacity discussed in the hearing: - SNAP: approximately 110,000 Hennepin County recipients. Wagner said SNAP applications have grown week over week for three years and that the county routes operational support to process high volumes of applications. - MFIP: roughly 6,900 families in Hennepin County (about 19,000 individuals total), which receive combined cash and food supports. - WIC: Hennepin County WIC caseload around 13,000 individuals; county staff said Minnesota Department of Health estimated WIC benefits would be available through mid-November as of Oct. 20, and warned that increased demand could exhaust available redemption funds sooner.

County staff described two response buckets: day-to-day operations (application processing, staff reallocation, facility planning) and strategy (coordinating a single, comprehensive state funding request, avoiding successive one-off asks). Reggie Wagner described efforts to partner with workforce development and community-based training so that residents who must meet new work requirements can be referred into employment supports.

Quotes from the hearing - “We have an operational response,” Reggie Wagner, Director of Economic Supports, said, summarizing the county’s immediate staffing and clinic plans as federal changes take effect. - “When we solve for someone else’s problem, we teach them that they can dump the problem on us,” County Administrator Jody Wendland told the board as staff laid out a strategy to coordinate a statewide funding request.

Commissioner concerns and follow-up requests Commissioners pressed for clearer scenarios showing how specific state or federal funding shifts would affect county staffing, fund balance and service levels. Several commissioners asked for more detailed “math” — projections that show the dollar and service impacts of different federal/state outcomes — and requested follow‑up materials on which Human Services positions are being held open and which community contracts are prioritized.

Formal actions taken during the session - The committee approved the minutes for the prior budget briefing (motion and approval recorded; mover/second not named in the transcript). Outcome: approved. - The committee approved a motion to lay over an item until 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2025 (mover/second not named in the transcript). Outcome: approved.

What’s next County staff said they will return with more detailed modeling and recommendations about use of fund balance, staffing priorities and potential targeted financial relief requests to the state. The administration scheduled a future meeting (Nov. 10) to consider administrator amendments to the proposed budget and provided a public phone line and written-comment options for residents to weigh in before final adoption.

Speakers quoted or frequently referenced in this article are listed in the article’s speaker file.