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County staff warn of larger state share, tighter audits under FoodShare changes; resolution and QC position planned
Summary
Renee Zagle, economic support manager, told supervisors federal HR1 changes will expand work requirements and shift FoodShare funding to 25% federal/75% state; Wisconsin’s Act 116 brings $69 million for training, administration and quality-control positions and the county plans to propose a FoodShare QC lead next month funded by state allocation.
Renee Zagle, Washington County economic support manager, told the Health and Human Services Committee that federal changes (the HR1 package) and the state response (assembly bill/Act 116) will materially change FoodShare eligibility, oversight and funding.
Zagle said the federal changes expand work requirements, increasing the upper age threshold for the work rule from 54 to 64 and specifying 80 hours of work or equivalent training per month for certain recipients. She told the committee veterans are no longer categorically exempt from the work requirement and described exemptions and a three-month hardship allowance for recipients to meet the threshold.
Zagle said Wisconsin will shift the FoodShare federal/state funding split from roughly 50/50 to 25% federal and 75% state beginning in October, and the state has allocated $69,000,000 to counties/consortiums for FSET training, administration and quality control to respond to the change. "Part of this is next month, we're gonna bring a resolution forward for a new position for our department as a food share lead worker," Zagle told the committee, adding the Moraine Lakes Consortium allocation totals $993,020 and Washington County’s share (15.42%) would be approximately $153,000 with no county levy required for that position.
She explained the state will require counties to perform a larger pre-certification or quality-control review: 25% of renewals and applications will be pulled and checked through a PCR (pre-certification review) tool, a significant workload increase compared with prior sampling. Zagle warned that small sample sizes previously made error rates volatile: "If you get 1 wrong, you blow it for the year." Washington County’s consortium error rate in 2025 was 7.7% while Wisconsin’s statewide rate was 5.6% for 2025; counties could face financial liability if error rates exceed prescribed thresholds under the state response to HR1.
Committee members asked operational questions about sampling parameters, timeliness requirements (cases must be confirmed within two days for some case types), and inter-county allocation mechanics (case-share determines the split; allocations fund hires or shared supervisory time depending on county size). Zagle said the department currently uses data links to unemployment and child-support records for verification but is not bi-directionally linked with school systems.
The committee did not vote; Zagle said a resolution and a funding request for a FoodShare QC/lead worker will be brought forward at the next meeting.
