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MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES <br />June 16, 2014 <br />2 <br />The County Commissioners have decided not to drop children impacted by this change which will <br />cost approximately $200,000. There is also a market rate increase going into effect. The end result <br />even with the Commissioners’ support will still likely be fewer children served next year. The <br />Commissioners did put extra money in the Social Justice Fund to help with actions taken by the <br />General Assembly including child care subsidy. <br /> <br />Tina Clark also noted that income earned by grandparents or other caretakers, which is not <br />currently counted, will now be counted, making additional families ineligible. She also added that <br />although the county was awarded the Smart Start grant to administer subsidy there was over <br />$100,000 cut from that grant this year. The reasons behind that are unclear and a meeting is <br />scheduled. <br /> <br />Staff will be back in front of the Commissioners tomorrow night trying to explain all these changes in <br />child care. There are real concerns about where all these children will be once subsidy is <br />unavailable to these families. <br /> <br />Ms. Coston added that TANF can pay for child care up to 200% of poverty. This might be a way to <br />pay for part of the 125 children likely to be impacted by this. <br /> <br />2. Budget Update <br /> <br />Nancy Coston mentioned the Board of County Commissioners is trying to fill some of the holes <br />caused by the General Assembly. That will cause the tax rate to increase this year. <br /> <br />Tamara Dempsey-Tanner asked for an update on the non-profit agencies requesting funds. <br />Sharron Hinton informed the Board that three of the non-profit agencies reviewed by the Social <br />Services Board received additional funding—OCIM, the Hillsborough Exchange Club, and Ligo Dojo <br />of Budo Karate. <br /> <br />The Board of County Commissioners allocated additional money to the Social Justice Fund and is <br />waiting to see what happens with the General Assembly before allocating those funds. Earl McKee <br />added the Commissioners also raised the living wage to $12.76 per hour. The county will not hire <br />people below that rate. <br /> <br />The General Assembly put additional funds into child welfare to replace some of the cuts over the <br />last few years. There is a formula to determine how much each county will receive. <br /> <br />3. NC FAST Update <br /> <br />Lindsey Shewmaker updated the Board on NC FAST. North Carolina has a large number of <br />Medicaid cases that are overdue and the state is requiring each county to submit an Accelerated <br />Medicaid Processing Plan. Orange County has been working on bringing down the number of <br />overdue cases and will continue to address the backlog of overdue cases. <br /> <br />4. Director’s Report <br /> <br />Nancy Coston’s evaluation will be put on the agenda for the July meeting. <br /> <br />The agency is working with OWASA and other local agencies to help low-income families reduce <br />water costs. OWASA is currently cutting water off for about 120 families per month and are looking <br />for ways to reduce this number and decrease costs for these families. Pat Garavaglia expressed <br />interest in working with Duke Energy in similar ways. She also asked whether there was money for