Budget Hearing Meeting – DHS, October 7, 2026

This was the Department of Human Services budget hearing on October 7, 2026. Finance director Vernon Roth walked the Fund 70 sheet with Vicki. No roll-call votes. No public comment. This is not a general-fund office and it is not the $400,000 countywide hole. It is the human-services fund. There are two money piles. The first is Fund 70 itself. The working 2027 revenue bottom line is $752,811. Of that, $23,000 is local tax collected. The rest — roughly $729,811 — is a pass-through from the state. The working expense bottom line is about $681,430. That leaves a working surplus on the order of $71,000. The second pile is the cash reserve already sitting in Fund 70: a little over $200,000, which the room said is about six months of salary-related operating costs. That reserve is not new spending. Vicki and Vernon have been rebuilding the DHS account lines since January so the books match how the state actually moves money. That is why some lines show zero history. They budget what they can reasonably expect from the state on a calendar year. If the state cuts or increases a grant in May or June, they adjust. Vicki does not foresee a cut that would leave an employee unpaid. Program money is mostly reimbursed. Child welfare is 100% reimbursable and about $30,000 is expected. Customer-service incentives can run up to about $5,256 and are also 100% reimbursable; only $104 has been spent year-to-date. Social-economic under child welfare is $900 and 100% reimbursable. Core programs carry 80/20 or other matches. CCAP has only two or three open cases, so the allocation is limited by prior underspending. County match exists on some lines (10% or 20% depending on the program), but monthly reimbursements cover most of the rest. Unspent incentive money stays with the department. Expense lines were cleaned. Salaries are plugged at $71,000. Benefits and workers’ comp sit in the benefits line. Customer service is budgeted at $11,800 but is not planned to be spent at that level; it is flexible for chairs, supplies, or whatever the office actually needs. Core supplies dropped from $6,000 in 2026 actuals to $200 for 2027. Family engagement meetings are still a guess because volume is unknown; they cover rooms and contracts (including Crowley County for notes and facilitation). A vehicle upgrade from a 2020 Traverse (54,000 miles) toward a Suburban for visitations was discussed, with the hope of a state grant through Crowley County DHS. No price was locked. No motion closed the $752,811 revenue, the $681,430 expense, the $71,000 surplus, the vehicle, or the account-line rebuild. Next steps named were continued monthly reports from Vicki to Vernon and adjustments if the state changes the numbers in May or June.