ORD-2014-041 Approval for Request for Approval of Budget Amendment #2-C and for Additional Temporary Staff to Assist with Public Assistance Cases - Agenda 10-21-2014 - 6h

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receives one of these applications, it must be assessed for Medicaid eligibility. All of these applications must be processed in 45 days and should all be completed by March 2015. In addition to the Medicaid cases, DSS must operate the energy programs (Crisis Intervention Program and the Low Income Energy Assistance Program), requiring additional staff resources from November through March. Each year, approximately 3,000 payments are issued although employees see additional people since all who apply are not eligible. Although work and employees within the organization have been moved to meet the shifting needs, additional staff resources are needed to manage the next six months. For any review not completed by December, a DSS staff member will have to complete an action in NCFAST to manually extend the review period for another month. Obviously that creates more work but probably cannot be avoided on all of these cases. DSS is requesting additional temporary positions (up to seven positions, depending on how soon they can be filled) to assist with this work. Although the current DSS budget includes some funds for temporary staff in public assistance, these are not sufficient for the current needs. The County Manager and Finance and Administrative Services Director have worked with the Social Services Director to move some available funds within the DSS budget to fund part of the needs. Any funds expended on staff working in Medicaid, including these temporary staff, will receive 75% reimbursement from the enhanced Medicaid administration funding. In addition, some unbudgeted child welfare revenue has been received, allowing some of the County funds now used in child welfare to be used for these positions. This budget amendment reflects these additional revenue sources. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The funds for this request are located within the DSS budget and through the receipt of additional revenue of $56,259 as part of this Budget Amendment #2 -C. No additional County funds are requested. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve Budget Amendment #2 -C and approve the DSS plan to use temporary staff to complete this work.