Title
Receive and accept the quarterly report of expenditures and caseload data for the Department of Social Services.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Budget Committee receive and accept the quarterly report of expenditures and caseload data for the Department of Social Services.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The attached report represents actual caseload and expenditure data through June 2015. The report compares data month-to-month and year-to-year for three years. In addition to administrative costs, the programs highlighted are:
* General Assistance CalWORKs
* Medi-Cal CalFresh (Food Stamps)
* In-Home Support Services (IHSS) Out-of-Home Care (Foster Care and Adoptions)
* General Assistance (GA) caseload overall decline for the Fiscal Year was 5.45% and expenditure decline was 8%.
* CalWORKs caseload declined 7.36% from the prior year however expenditures declined by 1.19% due to 5% COLAs that became effective in March 2014 and April 2015.
* Medi-Cal caseload has doubled in the last two years with over 65,000 cases.
* CalFresh caseload has increased by 8.5% due to diligent outreach efforts in the community. Ongoing activity to increase participation in CalFresh by low income households continues to an important area of focus. New efforts underway include participation in a pilot project with the California Department of Social Services to geocode maps that estimate areas in the county where under-access is greater and to reach out to school districts to encourage referral of school lunch recipients who are not enrolled in CalFresh.
* IHSS paid hours increased 3.29% in the fiscal year and will increase this year due to the 7% restoration of hours provided for in the state budget. Expenditures will also increase due to the new provider wage increase approved by the Board of Supervisors. There will be a General Fund impact of approximately $380,506 for costs associated with changes to the wage and benefit structure...
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