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Wright County HHS reports $750,000 in initial savings amid reengineering; board warned of SNAP funding cut
Summary
Wright County Health & Human Services director outlined a department-wide reengineering that officials say yielded $750,000 in initial savings and will change staffing and workflows; commissioners were warned a recent state SNAP funding change could reduce county revenues by about $1.5 million.
Wright County Health & Human Services Director Mr. McMillan told the county board on June 2 that a three-and-a-half-month reengineering review has produced organizational changes and early savings.
"I did wanna start with 750,000 and then we'll work down to the rest of the conversation," McMillan said, presenting the department's objectives to "streamline services, reduce redundancy, increase capacity and build a foundation for long-term sustainability." He described reorganizing adult and disability services and public health, improving front-desk workflow and adding a grant supervisor to centralize oversight of allocations and subsidies.
McMillan said the initial, first-phase workflow changes produced about $750,000 in cost savings and that Finance and HR are working with HHS to quantify continued savings and the financial attachments for upcoming reorganizations. He said the grant supervisor will coordinate with the director, business services, managers and finance to review allocations and subsidies.
Board members praised staff engagement during the review and the "lean" focus on preserving services. The chair said the board has already enacted reductions that led to more than $500,000 in annual savings and called the HHS changes part of a broader effort to manage county costs without raising the levy.
But the board also flagged external budget risks. The chair said a recent state action will reduce county SNAP funding by about $1,500,000, a hit that could require staffing reductions or decisions not to backfill positions. "At this point, we... may have to make staff reductions or not backfill positions," the chair said while urging continued efforts to limit local tax impacts.
McMillan said the work will continue through reengineering of business services and that the county is targeting June 30 to complete the next set of reorganization steps before staff implement workflow changes and report back to the board.
The board requested continued briefings on the financial impacts and directed staff to include attachments showing projected revenue and expense changes tied to reorganizations. No formal policy changes or staffing actions were adopted at the June 2 meeting; the presentation was an update and the board set follow-up work for later meetings.
