Budget meetings are never something anyone particularly looks forward to, but Monday night’s special called meeting of the Sampson County Board of Commissioners to begin budget talks was especially daunting in many respects.
While County Manager Allen Vann reiterated there’s no plan for an increase in property tax rates this year, and there are recommended cost of living adjustments plus a $500 bonus for county employees currently being proposed, other cuts on the horizon make those small victories feel gratefully welcome, but in the end, the joy is somewhat short-lived.
Many of the budget cuts commissioners reviewed this week for next fiscal year will come from the federal government, as part of the Trump-named Big Beautiful Bill. With its proposed cuts to SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) and Medicaid, the burden of funding these programs will eventually fall to county governments.
For instance, DSS Director Patty Santos shared, the existing 50-50 split of funding for Food and Nutrition Services — half from the county, the other from the federal government — will become a 75 percent county-funded program come October, with the federal government putting in only 25 percent of the total bill.
Health Department Director Wanda Robinson also shared that since her department is partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control, new directives could affect funding as well. The CDC’s latest proposals will cut funding by 42-53 percent, she said. Several prevention programs are slated for elimination as well, including chronic disease, diabetes, heart disease and HIV/AIDS prevention. In addition, the CDC is no longer recommending vaccination against flu, RSV, COVID-19 or meningitis, meaning insurance companies will likely not reimburse the Health Department for those costs.
Medicaid cuts will also impact the Health Department’s bottom line, and thus, the county’s.
Cuts to Medicaid will also inadvertently affect rural counties, like Sampson, and especially rural hospitals, without the revenue currently created by Medicaid reimbursements.
So, while county commissioners are trying to look out for citizens’ money at the local level, federal budget cuts will still have a negative impact locally, whether the county has increased property tax rates or not. It’s a rather bleak picture of the future, but one we’re confident and hopeful our commissioners can handle.
Remember as the budget process rolls along over the next three months, commissioners are sometimes between a rock and a hard place, when it comes to funding that’s out of their hands. We appreciate their efforts, as well as those of Vann and Finance Director Melissa Burton, to help our county continue to do the most they can with fewer and fewer resources.