Brunswick County staff provided a briefing Oct. 20 on an anticipated 3% Medicaid fee-rate reduction and on local impacts from a partial federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1, warning commissioners of immediate fiscal and program risks for county services and residents.

Kathy (last name not provided), the county presenter, said the Medicaid fee reductions would reduce county revenue from health-clinic reimbursements and related services by an estimated “just a little bit over a $100,000” this fiscal year. She outlined estimated impacts to county programs: roughly $35,000 less to county health clinics, about $20,000 to the county’s health care management program, about $45,000 to ambulance fee services and about $13,000 to Department of Social Services non-emergency transportation — all across the remainder of the fiscal year.

On the federal-shutdown side, staff warned commissioners the county could face delayed federal revenue and paused benefit disbursements for residents. Kathy said WIC is about 75% federally funded and estimated about $61,000 of delayed revenue for program staff and benefits; she also told the board that food-stamp allotments issued across mid-November could total roughly $2.4 million for Brunswick County and that the state had said it could be unable to issue November benefits if the funding gap persists.

She summarized other consequences: potential delays to the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) rollouts if federal funds remain unavailable, child care subsidy uncertainties and an aggregate projected shortfall to the Department of Social Services of roughly $900,000 if the shutdown persisted into mid-November. County staff noted the state was seeking internal funding options to avoid piecemeal disruption and said the state was trying to keep programs whole if possible.

Commissioners asked questions about timing and reimbursements and were told that historically federal disbursements and staff reimbursements are paid retroactively when funding resumes, but that the county could face cash-flow pressure in the interim and program benefit interruptions for some residents if the shutdown continued. Staff stressed the information represented “what we know today” and said the state and federal situations remained fluid.

Ending: County staff will monitor developments and return to the board if program funding appears likely to be suspended; commissioners requested updates specifically if LIEAP or SNAP allotments could be affected so the board could consider local mitigation or support options.