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