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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES May 19,2025 the public as to the financial impact the revaluation will have on them and their wish to keep property taxes as low as possible. For DSS, the County Manager recommended a $100,000 increase for the in-home aide program, the elimination of a vacant position, and a 10% county-wide cut to the training budget. The management team is working on putting together a list of our department's mandated programs that we must operate regardless of federal and state funding. We are also pulling together a list of non- mandated but grant funded programs, and those that are not mandated and only county funded. We will know more after our budget is presented at the May 27 BOCC meeting. 3. Outside Agency Proposals The Manager has presented his recommendations for outside agency funding. His recommendation is to fund 35 agencies (39 are funded this year). Some agencies were moved out of the County's general fund and into some specialized funding sources. The total recommendation is about $800,000, which is less than the county spent this year. We recommended funding at request (or close) for Orange Enterprises, Exchange Club, and Volunteers for Youth. Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Monet Richardson Community Foundation were not recommended due to offering redundant services. DSS provided feedback on food agencies, and all were recommended for funding. 4. Federal Updates Lindsey Shewmaker presented an overview of the federal budget reconciliation package passed by the House. It includes anticipated and significant cuts in SNAP (Food and Nutrition Services) and Medicaid. 5. Community Services Block Grant Application The County Manager's office sent information and encouraged DSS to apply for funding from the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). Central Piedmont Community Action (CPCA), previously JOCCA, went out of business sometime last year and Orange County has not had a community action agency since. Applications were due last week to administer approximately $300,000 of funding. DSS proposed to support employment services and provide emergency assistance for residents of Orange County. Funding would go into effect July 1, so we hope to hear soon. This funding would provide additional resources to help individuals who may not qualify for our other programs and is a good opportunity to bring additional resources into the county. 6. Director's Report The Board received an updated Child Care Report for April. The agency continues to add children and has seen some normal attrition from state subsidy. Staff will move additional kids to state subsidy to save county funds. This year we expect to have about $300,000 in unused county funds. DSS has been under a hiring freeze since February. The number of vacant positions are starting to increase and will soon result in negative impacts for programs and services. We have filled the three economic services administrator/management positions. All three are internal promotions— Lakecia Robbins is the new Economic Services Program Manager, Louise Moize is the new Medicaid Administrator, and Tina Clark is the new Economic Benefits Administrator. The three vacated supervisor positions are now frozen so we have not seen a net increase in supervisory positions for filling these at this point. VII. Announcements 2