County briefing warns HR1 changes could raise local costs, expand work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid

Deputy County Administrator Joy Bivens briefed the Franklin County Board of Commissioners on federal HR1 provisions she said will materially change how SNAP and Medicaid are administered and create new local fiscal pressures.

Bivens said about 183,000 Franklin County residents currently receive SNAP and roughly 409,000 receive Medicaid. She described provisions that require broader work requirements (extending to adults 18–64 and, she said, adding work rules for household members age 14 and older), reductions in utility allowances for benefit calculations, tighter eligibility for noncitizens, and more frequent Medicaid recertifications (twice a year instead of once). "This is the biggest cut in history that has come to both SNAP and Medicaid," Bivens said, and she warned that administrative cost shares will shift so that county and state administrative burdens increase. She estimated a potential incremental county administrative exposure in a scenario she described at about $7.5 million.

Commissioners pressed Bivens on whether benefit amounts for eligible residents would decline; Bivens said benefits are determined by family size and income and she did not foresee benefit-level cuts driven directly by the eligibility metric she described, but she cautioned that increased administrative costs could require budget tradeoffs. On errors and repayment risk, Bivens explained that counties could face liabilities when error rates exceed federal thresholds and that the law changes how those error rates and repayments are allocated.

Bivens also highlighted operational impacts: more frequent renewals and additional case touches will increase staff workload at Job and Family Services and may require the board to reprioritize budget allocations to sustain service levels. She said the county is launching community education efforts and stakeholder coordination, including outreach with U.S. Representative Chantelle Brown and county HHS teams.

Why it matters: Commissioners were told that HR1 will shift operational and fiscal responsibilities to local agencies that already manage large caseloads. Franklin County faces both high absolute counts (Bivens' figures) and the prospect of new administrative costs, making the county's budgeting and service-delivery plans subject to federal policy changes.

Next steps: Staff said they will continue countywide outreach, provide more detailed fiscal modeling, and return with budget options for the board to consider as federal rules are finalized.