Sometimes when you run short in one area of your budget, you need to move your money around a bit. That’s why Scioto County Commissioners voted to renew the permission for the Director of Scioto County Jobs and Family Services to a little shuffling of money.
Scioto County Jobs and Family Services not only oversees child and adult protective services, foster care, employment assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, childcare subsidy, and TANF funds in Scioto County. This special permission, which the commissioners need to renew yearly, allows Director Tammy Moore-Morton of SCJFS to move money between counties if the need arises. For example, if Jackson or Adams County has a shortfall in Temporary Aid to Needy Family funds, Scioto County could transfer money to help keep that program running in the black.
Prior to the granting of the special permission four years ago, if one county had funds leftover and another fell short, the money could not be moved.
Commissioner Bryan Davis said the flexibility has worked out well. Typically, the shortfalls occur because of unanticipated expenses. He said one agency in Scioto County that had benefited greatly from the flexibility to move money around was Scioto County Children Services. He cited the unanticipated expenses caused by the opioid epidemic.
“It works well. They have benefited greatly from that flexibility.”
Here’s another interesting article about the progress being made by the Scioto County Commissioners.