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HHSA outlines multi-point plan after multi-year social-services deficit; board approves added realignment transfer and loan extension
Summary
Health & Human Services reported entitlement-driven growth in EBT and IHSS costs that has produced a multiyear social-services shortfall, and the Board approved a second 10% transfer of public-health realignment and an extension of a general-fund loan through Dec. 31, 2025.
Health & Human Services presented a multi-point plan and financial update to the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21 after reporting multiyear increases in entitlement spending that have outpaced available realignment revenue.
Aaron Watts, branch director for HHSA Administration, said the social-services fund has seen rapidly rising costs for direct client payments (EBT) and In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) maintenance-of-effort. “In 2021 there was a $6.8 million surplus,” Watts said, noting that by recent years expenditures exceeded revenue and that the county has seen roughly $19 million in deficits over the last three fiscal years.
Agency director Christy Coleman described immediate cost-saving steps: a soft hiring freeze (estimated to yield roughly $5 million annually), shifting two administrative positions into mental-health-managed-care compliance (saving an estimated $260,000), reducing professional services and administrative line items and consolidating leased space to trim facilities costs. The agency presented a combined conservative projection of about $10 million in annual savings if measures are sustained and additional contract and process changes are implemented.
On the fiscal actions requested, the agency asked the board to approve a second 10% transfer of public-health realignment to social services (the statute allows such transfers when mandated caseloads grow) and to extend a temporary general-fund loan through Dec. 31, 2025. The board approved the transfer and the extension unanimously.
What the county will do next: HHSA will return with a December budget amendment that incorporates identified cuts, revised budget authority and further analysis on the county’s cash-flow projections. Staff said they will continue to use consultants to train fiscal managers and pursue grant and contract adjustments to stabilize the fund.
Why it matters: Entitlement programs are mandatory and must be paid for when eligible; the fund shortfall affects county cash flow and requires near-term adjustments to avoid service disruption.
