County budget workshops highlight program cuts and shifts: electronic monitoring, SNAP and Medicaid risks front and center

Washington County directors used the Aug. 12 workshop to walk commissioners through proposed 2026 budgets and emerging state and federal policy shifts that could substantially affect operations and levy requirements.

Community Corrections Director Terry Thomas said about 68% of his department's funding comes from the levy and the rest from state sources. He reported a net state funding gain of roughly $168,700 from the Community Corrections Act but losses elsewhere (about $101,100 in STS grant funding and the transfer of $33,100 in interstate-compact tracking costs to counties). Thomas proposed transitioning electronic monitoring (EM) to a third-party vendor because device management and administrative work have strained staff capacity; the estimated cost of the third-party service is roughly $485,600 but he said the department will finance the change within existing resources by reallocating current EM contract funds and a modest FTE reduction (1.5 probation FTE reduced) and leveraging any increase in Community Corrections Act subsidy. Thomas reported the per-day cost of EM as about $11.75; the county receives $75 per day to board an inmate under a DOC agreement, offering a cost comparison.

Community Services Director Jennifer Castillo presented a $68.5 million proposed budget and warned that recent state and federal proposals—changes to waiver rate exceptions, resumed costs for inpatient evaluations, a potential 5% disability services residential cost-share, and federal SNAP and Medicaid work-requirement proposals—could push millions of dollars in new costs to counties. Castillo gave illustrative exposures (for example, SNAP penalty risk of about 10% for state noncompliance could translate into a county portion of roughly $2.3 million in one scenario) and said many figures are still estimates. She described program re-prioritization to protect mandated services, personnel adjustments and the planned opening of an Emergency Housing Services building in November 2025.

Public Health & Environment Director David Bramholm said prior state investments from 2023 have stabilized his department's budget and that PHE is positioned to continue delivering services. He flagged rising infectious-disease workload (tuberculosis, recent measles cases and growing vaccine hesitancy), the Northern Environmental Center's operations and a planned Afton yard-waste/wood-waste site that will require capital equipment. Bramholm noted that PHE will transfer $538,000 to Community Services for a community health worker unit (funded by levy and state grants) and requested a 1.0 FTE environmental specialist to replace contracted Clean Harbors duties and support new yard-waste operations.

Across presentations, commissioners asked for regular follow-up and more precise fiscal modeling on specific impacts; several asked for 3- to 6-month check-ins after operational changes such as the EM vendor transition.