Merced County officials are gearing up to adopt the final budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year and face millions of dollars in cuts to health and human services for the county’s most vulnerable residents, due to recent passage of the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Merced County’s Medi-Cal provider, Central California Alliance for Health, estimates 34,000 Merced County residents will lose medical coverage over the next 10 years. Additionally, thousands of residents could lose CalFresh, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, benefits under the new federal work requirements.
“These cuts will only further threaten food and health security for the most vulnerable in our community,” Merced County CEO Mark Hendrickson said during last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
Directors for the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Human Services Agency, Public Health, and Workforce Investment departments gave a presentation to the board at its last meeting outlining the way the new law will affect their respective department budgets and services.
The directors also said the new penalty and work requirements under the new law will drastically increase the caseloads for county departments that are already stretched thin on staffing.
Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
Kimiko Yang, Merced County’s director of behavioral health, estimated over 3,300 clients will lose access to services in her department. Additionally, the department faces a total loss of Medi-Cal revenue between $8.5-$11 million over the next four years.
The department’s budget will be further strained because Yang anticipates providing services to a larger number of uninsured clients that the department is responsible for covering but won’t be reimbursed for.
“Individuals will lose medical coverage and no longer have access to needed mental health and substance use disorder services,” Yang said. “We are also anticipating an increase in crisis services.”
Human Services Agency
Yvonnia Brown, director of the county’s Human Services Agency, said over 5,800 residents who receive SNAP benefits could be affected by the new work requirements under the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Additionally, about 1,200 immigrants in the county may lose Medi-Cal.
The county’s aging adults will be particularly susceptible to losing assistance. Over 400 senior citizens will lose food assistance and access to other wellness services. More than 40,000 aging residents will be affected by the new work and age requirements to receive Medi-Care, Brown said.
The new law will require county staff to re-evaluate client’s eligibility for services every six months, potentially increasing the Human Services Agency’s caseload from 49,000 client determinations to 65,000.
“Understand there will be some service reductions in the cases and the services that we render,” Brown said. “I told my staff that the thing we have to prepare for is going back to what I call the bare-minimum mandated services.”
Public Health
Merced County’s Public Health Department has already seen definite funding cuts to its SNAP education funding and emergency preparedness programs, Director Kristynn Sullivan said.
The county’s nutrition and physical education programs are scheduled to expire Sept. 30. Those programs include fresh food programs for schools, providing access to farmers markets for CalFresh recipients, and Safe Routes to Schools assessments.
The county’s emergency preparedness programs are facing a 30% cut. The hospital preparedness program already saw a 4% decrease. So far, it’s only received 70% of its federal funding allocation, and Sullivan doesn’t anticipate receiving the remaining 30% this year.
Those programs are all federally mandated, and the cuts in funding have made them unfunded mandates, Sullivan said.
Since March when she assumed her position, Sullivan implemented “a soft hiring freeze” because of rumors of such cuts.
Workforce Investment
The county’s Workforce Investment department is a fairly small, and federal funding only accounts for about 40% of the $17 million budget, according to Director Erick Serrato.
“The story here is very different from what my colleagues shared,” Serrato said, referring to his health and human service colleagues.
Workforce development programs still are awaiting a determination on how they will be funded, Serrato said, creating uncertainty for how to plan. His department’s funding will depend on Trump’s executive order to provide “Make America Skilled Again” grants and the reauthorization of the Workforce and Opportunity Investment Act.
No matter what, a reduction in funding for youth services appears imminent. Make America Skilled Again would eliminate 100% of the department’s youth funding, meaning shuttering a program that serves 250 young people. Federal signals point to a reorganization and reduction in workforce development funding, meaning cuts to youth programs and training.
Impact on county budget
Of Merced County’s $1.15 billion budget, $929 million comes from the federal and state governments and goes toward mandated programs and services. The Board of Supervisors can choose how to spend about $219 million. Of the $929 million, about half go to health and human services.
The new federal and state policies come with new penalty fees and requirements of local matching dollars, meaning the board must be strategic with how it spends its discretionary funding, Vanessa Anderson, Deputy County Executive Officer, said.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on the final budget on Sept. 23.