By Catharin Shepard • Editor • When the Hoke County Board of Commissioners met Monday in a resumed meeting to discuss the impacts of the government shutdown, the board ended up voting to allow the county manager and Department of Social Services to use $100,000 in funds already moved from the DSS budget, to support food drives for those in need.
The vote was taken with the understanding that, even as the commission was meeting, the government shutdown situation was evolving in Washington, D.C. and things could change in the near future.
In the meantime, the board members expressed concerns for the federal employees who were missing out on their usual paycheck due to the shutdown, and people potentially impacted by not receiving the full amount of food stamps/SNAP funds.
While North Carolina residents received partial SNAP benefits, they did not receive the full amount, according to DSS Director Terry Stanton. The local DSS office was still working with its clients to gather information.
The commissioners discussed potential ways to provide assistance for people in need. County Manager Letitia Edens offered information on the costs to provide one-week nonperishable food supplies for 1,000 people. The supplies would cost about $32 each for a total of $32,000, with an additional cost of about $13,000 for 1,000 frozen turkeys to help with a Thanksgiving meal.
There was discussion among commissioners over how to best approach the situation. Commission Allen Thomas suggested that the board look at using money in the DSS budget that was moved to a different fund, several months ago when the county considered 10 percent cuts to county departments.
Only DSS actually moved money – no other county department was asked to make the cut, according to the board discussion, though the department heads did prepare documentation showing where they would make the cuts, if they had to. It would not be a good idea to ask departments to try and make those same cuts from their budgets five months into the fiscal year, Thomas said.
Commissioner Tony Hunt mentioned wanting to work with DSS to make sure anything the county does, gets the help to the people who need it. In a previous situation where the county helped out with replacing citizens’ food lost due to power outages from a hurricane, “I bet you 30 to 40 percent of the people who came through that line could have replaced the food in their freezers without help from the county, but they chose not to.”
“But they were the ones who got there, because they had vehicles they could drive,” Hunt said. “People who didn’t have transportation who probably were in the worst need, didn’t get in that line because they didn’t even know about it until two days later, and the program lasted, what, a day and a half? Maybe two days at the most? And all that money was gone, because we didn’t set it up in a way that we were able to make sure that there are guidelines in place, that the neediest families receive it. How do we put that in place…whatever we do we need to do it in a way so that those folks (Senior Services, DSS) are involved so any funds we do give is used in a wise manner.”
“We have more than Thanksgiving coming up, Christmas is coming up too,” Hunt also pointed out.
Vice Chairman Harry Southerland expressed concern over keeping people waiting too long for help in a time of need. He and Commission Chairman James Leach brought up the possibility of again looking at the 10 percent cuts for other departments, if that money is needed to assist citizens not only with food insecurity, but with the heat/light bill assistance program, which is also tied up in federal funding due to the government shutdown.
After back-and-forth over the approach, and how to use the funds, the board unanimously approved a motion to allow the county manager to work with DSS using the $100,000 already moved from its budget.
“It’s bigger than SNAP, so we’ve got to come up with a plan that’s bigger than the 9,800 people, give or take, that’s on SNAP in Hoke County. So, let’s work together,” Southerland said. He mentioned that working with the local soup kitchen to offer a meal for the community – “that was one day.”
“We need to come up with a plan for going down the road,” he said. The commission may need to take additional action in the future to address the situation, the vice chairman said.
Additionally, for emergency needs, looking at lapse salaries – funds allocated for positions that are not filled – would be the easiest option, Thomas suggested.
“The way we can easiest get money for these with causing the least amount of stress is lapse salaries, not only DSS, but the county,” he said.
Lapse salaries usually return to the general fund, the county manager said. Thomas asked about having lapse salaries from county departments be moved into the emergency fund. Edens asked if she could look at the funds involved before the board makes a decision on that.