An update from Michelle Baumhoefner and Stacy Timms of Southwest Health and Human Services provided disconcerting financial news on Tuesday during the Murray County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Cost shifts from federal to state for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) are being pushed onto counties in Minnesota and several other states.
Under the new federal law, Minnesota is now responsible for paying a share of the SNAP benefits that individuals receive beginning in FY 2028, with the exact amount to be determined by the state’s “payment error rate.” According to Baumhoefner, SWHHS has a less than 6 percent error rate, but the state as a whole currently has a 12 percent error rate.
“We have to pay that state rate,” she added. “We can’t get very clear data from the state to understand where the errors are happening.”
Some of the error rate comes from clients who enter their information incorrectly. Some comes from staff data entry errors. Baumhoefner said the IT systems they work with are archaic, with much of the databeing inserted manually. This leaves more room for error. Even once the information is corrected, is still goes into the error rate percentage.
Minnesota’s Benefit Cost Share amount will not be determined until Q3 of calendar year 2027. Effective October 1, 2026, Minnesota will be required to pay for 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs, up from the current 50 percent. That cost is paid for by counties through local property tax levies.
Based on estimated numbers, the 6-county share for Q4 would be more than $380,000. SWHHS covers Lincoln, Lyon, Redwood, Murray, Pipestone and Rock Counties.
During the last legislative session, another cost shift was passed onto counties for LTSS. The state has always covered these required services, but starting in 2027, that will shift onto counties.
The combined county cost shift in 2027 for SNAP and LTSS will be over $1 million.
Aware that these changes were a possibility, positions at SWHHS that have become vacant have not been refilled.
“The work is not going away – it’s increasing,” Timms said, adding that cases that used to be reviewed annually are now required to be reviewed every six months. “In an ideal world we would be hiring.”
An exact amount of what this will cost Murray County will be determined by several factors and based on a per capita breakdown.
In other commissioner business, a public hearing to rescind a previous resolution and re-state it was approved. The resolution is to create a Local Development Organization with federal Minnesota Investment Funds that have been sitting in the Murray County EDA coffers. Also approved was a tax abatement request by Jaden and Delany Boerboom under the Home Initiative.
The commissioners approved a motion to install a new wireless system at the Murray County Fairgrounds. The current system is antiquated and gets interference from nearby residence wi-fi. Cost for the new system, including removal of old equipment from a tower and installation of new equipment will be $12,000.
