Hazen Responds

County Commissioner Jeff Hazen responded to my previous post as a comment but considering the importance of this issue, we offer it as a separate post:




I believe it is important to note where the majority of revenues come from when discussing the Health and Human Services dept.

For the upcoming year, the total budget for all the funds under HHS is $4,424,190. Of that total, only $615,500 (13.91%) is funded by the general fund. The rest of the revenue is funded by the State, grants, and fees paid by users. The general fund subsidy is a reduction of $19,100 from the current year's original budget.
By comparison, in the upcoming year the District Attorney dept has a total budget of $1,470,200. Of that total, $1,200,400 (85.65%) is funded out of the general fund. The general fund subsidy is an increase of $56,800 from the current year's original budget.

This is important because of the reliance on pass-through funding for HHS.

If the funding doesn't materialize, it is a major issue since the majority of their budget relies on those monies. Action has been taken in this current year to address the issue of not receiving enough monies to cover the expenditures. This unfortunately included several layoffs of employees.I don't have a comparison with other counties throughout the state. I can reiterate how lucky we are compared to the vast majority of other counties throughout the state that rely heavily on the federal payments program that is disappearing.

Those counties are in dire straights with some of them on the brink of bankruptcy. We are fortunate because of the current status of our general fund and being able to transfer funds into HHS this year to make up the difference between revenue and spending. Our long term financial plan is crucial with instances like this.

Rest assured, much attention will be placed on this department in the coming months. An operational audit will help identify the areas that need addressed. We will continue to look for additional opportunities of funding for the department as well as look at ways of increasing efficiencies.

I certainly do not want to see us in this situation at this time next year and will be closely working with staff to make sure we are't.

As far as an audit from the state is concerned, the state is currently doing a comprehensive audit of HHS. We are expecting the results of that audit in the near future. As an ending, it is also important to note that $175,000 was spent on services to those that needed these programs the most.