Minutes 04-21-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Department has been studying ways to eliminate the current waitlist. Based on conversations with state officials, the Department anticipates receiving an additional $300,000 above the estimated $3.4 million in the DSS proposed 2015-2016 budget. The Department believes that approximately 800 children per month could be served with the funds in the budget recommended by the Social Services Board. If there is some shortage of funds to meet this need, the Department could cover these costs by moving any unexpended funds from other line items during the year. Therefore the Department recommends clearing the current waitlist and continuing without a waitlist through June 30, 2015. Another stated goal of the Board of County Commissioners is to eliminate the waitlist on an ongoing basis. Trend data has been analyzed by the Department and the highest number of children served when there was no waitlist was 928. The trends also show that on average approximately 30 children are added to the waitlist each month and 12 terminate from subsidy each month. Based on this net increase of 18 children being added to the subsidy program each month (and therefore requiring varying amounts of support for the year), the Department estimates eliminating the waitlist would add $702,000 in county costs to the Fiscal Year 2015- 2016 budget. This amount would be in addition to the $928,615 in the proposed budget approved by the DSS Board. If more than $300,000 in reallocated funds are received from the state or if attrition proves higher than projected, these costs might be lower. If funds are not made available to eliminate the waitlist, children would be added to the waitlist beginning July 1, 2015. Only if the average number of children drops below 800 would children from the waitlist be served. Another strategy for addressing this need would be to increase the number of children served incrementally. The estimated annual cost to add 50 children to the monthly average of children served is $300,000 and this is based on each child receiving subsidy for all 12 months. By increasing the average number of children served, the Board could develop an alternative strategy to address the need and thereby reduce the length of time children are on the waitlist. Nancy Coston said there will need to be a discussion during the budget process about whether or not to continue to fund services to 200% the poverty rate for children ages six and up. She said right now children ages six and up should be funded up to 133% the poverty rate but Orange County has been serving up to 200% at cost to the County. She said this is a factor that has been figured into any estimates provided to the BOCC with an assumption that services would continue to be provided up to 200% the poverty rate. She said DSS strives never to terminate services once a child has been removed from the waiting list. She said the State revenue has always been a shooting match for DSS. She said typically the State ends up giving more money than estimated but it is not a guarantee. She said this year Orange County received $1 million more than estimated from the State. She assumes there will be some additional money next year but not necessarily as much. Nancy Coston asked if the Board of County Commissioners has the desired information from her office and does the BOCC need more option scenarios. She said the 50 children being served every month for 12 months will cost $300,000. She said there are about 130 on the childcare wait list since January 1, 2015. She said there are monies in the budget. She said with the flexibility DSS was given this year to move money around, it is believed that they can serve those children next year with their current budget proposal for 2015 to 2016. Chair McKee asked if the County Manager had anything to add and how it may play into her proposal.