Counties Brace for New SNAP Costs and Workloads

By Joe Mahoney
Contributing Writer

Spread across a rural region near the Canadian border, St. Lawrence County has for years had high rates of poverty and unemployment, with food pantries that struggle to meet the needs of the local population.

Now, with her county government facing major fiscal challenges from controversial changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), County Administrator and NYSAC board member Ruth Doyle and her team are taking an all-hands-on-deck approach. They have been scrambling to keep up with food benefit applications, pulling in staff previously dedicated to heating and temporary assistance programs.

In a county of 41,666 households, some 17 percent rely on SNAP benefits, Doyle said.

St. Lawrence County Social Services Commissioner Joseph Seeber added: "We've trained our staff to be jacks of all trades. They're like Swiss Army knives. They have to do it all now."

Difficult choices have had to be made, such as reducing education programs, with the main focus being keeping the benefits going to those who qualify for them.

Doyle and other county leaders, through the New York State Association of Counties, are calling on Congress to delay implementation of the cost shift to counties from recently enacted changes to the SNAP program. The changes, according to NYSAC, threaten food access for some 3 million New Yorkers while creating severe strains on the budgets of county governments.

Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden noted the recent federal legislation slashes the federal share of SNAP administration costs from 50 percent to 25 percent beginning Oct. 1, the beginning of the next federal fiscal year.

That change alone, Groden said, is projected to increase costs for Greene County to the tune of nearly $1 million. But an even bigger impact to the county will be felt from another consequence of the federal changes: a requirement that counties pay a higher share of SNAP benefits if statewide error rates in the program — often resulting from questionable information supplied by recipients — are not kept below 6 percent.

For Greene County alone, the error-rate penalty could cost the county $1.4 million. The two additional costs, Groden said, amount to approximately $2.4 million, or nearly 10 percent of the county's $27 million tax levy.

Other county leaders are coping with similar anxieties stemming from the looming cost shifts and the impacts they carry for the tax levy, the SNAP program itself and taxpayers.

Oswego County Administrator Phil Church, president of NYSAC, anticipates his county will feel the fiscal hit to the tune of just under $800,000 per year, with the financial impact being "much greater" should the error rate penalty take effect in 2027.

As for how the SNAP changes might impact the workloads of county employees involved with SNAP benefits, Church said his county has already done compliance checks and screening of new applications, a move that could avert the need to beef up staffing for the program.

"However, the volume of potential reapplications in the future is unknown and could change that workload," Church cautioned.

County workers have also been working to ensure that all households eligible for benefits receive them as the federal adjustments are implemented.

"We continue to screen and educate all applicants, and all current cases are monitored for any changes that would either qualify the individual for additional service or make them ineligible," Church said. "We dedicated employment specialists to work with recipients and ensure compliance with work requirements."

Last year's federal budget legislation also significantly expanded work requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) in the SNAP program, raising the age limit from 54 to 64.

Seeber said a reduction in overall SNAP benefits is bound to create economic ripples, a concern that grows if additional cuts take effect in 2027 as feared.

"Every SNAP dollar that comes into our county puts about $1.70 back into the local economy," Seeber said. "So there's a trickle-down effect for a county like ours, with such an impoverished population and a lack of resources."

NYSAC leaders have been enlisting members of New York's congressional delegation to support the association's request for a two-year delay on the current schedule of federal changes to the administration of SNAP. New York is one of just three states — along with New Jersey and North Carolina — where counties bear the entire 50 percent non-federal share of SNAP administrative costs, rather than splitting it with the state. Some 3 million New Yorkers get their SNAP benefits from their local counties.

"We are asking Congress for a reasonable, bipartisan solution—a two-year delay—so counties can plan, build capacity, and continue serving residents without disruption," NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario said in a recent statement.

In Washington and in recent public appearances in New York, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has advocated for a two-year delay in the planned SNAP cost shifts to counties.

Schumer, New York's senior senator, said he will not support a proposed federal Farm Bill unless it provides more time for states and counties to prepare to shoulder the cost of the SNAP changes.