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County health staff identify payroll accounting issue and rising placement costs amid budget review
Summary
At the July 2 meeting, staff reported a payroll posting adjustment that is skewing 2026 utilization figures and said placement utilization is elevated (61%) because of a single high‑cost institutional placement; staff will compile historical placement and participation data to assess whether mental‑health services reduce institutional placements.
Richland County health staff told committee members on July 2 that a payroll accounting posting by auditors is affecting year‑to‑date budget utilization figures and that a single high‑cost placement has driven placement utilization to about 61% for the year.
An agency official explained a payroll posting issue: an early 2026 payroll was posted by auditors as time worked in 2025, which makes current utilization and payroll accounting appear inconsistent. "Auditors posted it back...so now it looks like we will...be behind on my budget," the agency official said, and staff committed to reconciling payroll counts so utilization matches the budgeted 26 payrolls for the year.
On placements, staff said the 61% utilization rate was driven by one high‑cost institutional placement; they are pursuing transition to a community‑based setting and attempting to enroll a community residential facility in the CCS program so costs can be shifted to Medicaid reimbursement. "There's work being done every day by our APS, our crisis, the behavioral health manager," the agency official said.
Committee members asked for hard evidence that in‑house mental‑health services reduce institutional placements. Staff said they are pulling historical placement figures and participation trends to analyze correlations and will report back. The transcript records staff stating that, so far in 2026, 15 individuals required institutional placements and seven were in community‑based protective placements.
Next steps: staff will pull and present historical placement and participation data and provide a clearer reconciliation of payroll and budget utilization in a future meeting.
No budget adjustments or formal votes were taken on budget items at the July 2 meeting.
