It’s too soon to tell how the latest budget reductions will affect Mower County health and human services, according to county officials.

Though county workers affected by the government shutdown came back to work Thursday, there’s plenty of work to catch up on and a slew of new information to get through.

“We know that there’s going to be programs affected,” said Julie Stevermer, Department of Human Services Director.

Stevermer said the Minnesota Department of Human Services had yet to send out budget figures for counties, which means it’s difficult to gauge exactly how hard certain services will be targeted.

DHS officials sent out a preliminary list of major changes to health and human services statewide, which includes reducing the Children and Community Services Act Grant to $22 million over the next two years, separating Electronic Benefit Transfer cards into cash and food benefit categories and increasing counties’ share of Chemical Dependency treatment costs from about 16 percent to about 23 percent.

“We know with the passing of this bill that there’s going to be a reduction in funding in certain key areas,” Stevermer said.

Some of those areas include the Elderly Waiver program (which is federal money funneled through the state) and Alternative Care services, according to Stevermer.

Public Health is in a similar situation, though county officials say cuts could have been worse.

“It looks as though we have gained some funds back that were originally threatened,” said Margene Gunderson, Public Health Director.

Residents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families home funding should be relieved, as TANF dollars aren’t getting cut. TANF funding is used by county officials for home visits to new families to make sure infants are in a healthy environment.

Family Planning Funding, which helps MCPH maintain its open-door clinic for the needy, is also largely unaffected. County officials will still get local public health funding to track and investigate disease patterns as well as other behind-the-scenes services the County keeps records of.

The State Health Improvement Program will continue as well, though it’s been shortened by a year. The state Legislature approved $15 million in SHIP funding for the next year, about $150,000 of which is expected to go to Mower County. Local officials have used SHIP funding in the past to create elementary school snack programs county-wide, as well as install more bike racks, purchase vegetable steamers for school cafeterias, various gardening projects and other things.

Over the next few weeks, county officials will figure out how the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill affects the current year’s budget. That will take some time depending on how soon state agencies give counties reports on how the budget will affect them. Since the county is on a calendar fiscal year (instead of a July to June fiscal year like most state agencies), county officials will also prepare preliminary budgets for next year based on state projections.

Preliminary Health and Human Services changes

Though it’s too early to tell how the latest Health and Human Services budget will affect Mower County, major changes are set statewide.

• County cost share for new civilly committed sex offenders jumps from 10 percent to 25 percent.

• Requires issuance of separate Electronic Benefit Transfer cards for the cash and food portions of the benefit.

• Reduces the Children and Community Services Act Grant to $22 million over the next two years and adds vulnerable adults and children to list of potential grant beneficiaries. The grant is renamed the Vulnerable Children and Adults Act.

• Reduces the Adult Mental Health Grants to $13.5 million over the next two years.

• Increases county share of chemical dependency treatment costs from about 16 percent to about 23 percent — estimated to save the state $6.7 million over the next two years.

• Tightens chemical dependency placement criteria for room and board to those scoring at level four on assessments related to relapse, continued use and recovery environment — estimated to save the state $18.9 million over the next two years.

Source: Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators