RESOLUTION NO. _____________

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

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RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MODIFICATIONS TO THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSISTANCE (GA) PROGRAM BY: A) REVISING THE ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION RE-APPROVAL CYCLE FOR GA RECIPIENTS FROM MONTHLY TO QUARTERLY; B) LIMITING THE NUMBER OF SEPARATE VENDOR TRANSACTIONS PER GA RECIPIENT TO A MAXIMUM OF FIVE VOUCHERS PER MONTH; C) UTILIZING ESTATE RECOVERY AS THE PRIMARY METHOD TO OBTAIN REPAYMENT OF AID AS OPPOSED TO EXECUTING LIENS ON GA RECIPIENTS’ ASSETS; AND D) ALIGNING GA GRANTS WITH CALWORKS USING A TIERED REDUCTION APPROACH

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RESOLVED, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Mateo, State of California, that

 

WHEREAS, state law requires counties to provide support for indigent residents who do not qualify for other financial assistance, and such support requirement is satisfied by counties through the provision of a General Assistance (GA) program; and

 

WHEREAS, the County’s GA program provides financial assistance to individuals who have no minor children and whose income and property do not exceed certain limits by providing such individuals with vouchers for essential services and a minimal cash grant; and

 

WHEREAS, due to the sustained economic downturn, the County has experienced a 90% increase in the number of residents applying for and receiving GA benefits since 2006, resulting in a significant increase in costs to the County’s general fund; and

 

WHEREAS, the County may achieve administrative savings by revising the eligibility determination re-approval cycle for GA recipients from monthly to quarterly, limiting the number of separate voucher transactions per GA recipient to a maximum of five per month, and utilizing estate recovery as the primary method to obtain repayment of aid as opposed to executing liens on GA recipients’ assets; and

 

WHEREAS, in 1993 the County of San Mateo adopted a GA standard of aid pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code §17000.5 based on a statutory formula that is tied to the State CalWORKs grant levels; and

 

WHEREAS, effective July 1, 2011, the State CalWORKs program aid levels will be decreased to an amount that is 12% less than the County’s current GA grant level; and

 

WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2.30.050 of the San Mateo County Ordinance Code, the Director of the Human Services Agency shall be responsible for the formulating of rules and regulations concerning policies and procedures for GA program administration, which rules and regulations shall be presented for review to the Board of Supervisors; and

 

WHEREAS, the Human Services Agency recommends that the Board approve modifications to the County’s rules and regulations concerning policies and procedures for GA program administration in order to: 1) revise the eligibility determination re-approval cycle for GA recipients from monthly to quarterly; 2) limit the number of separate vendor transactions per GA recipient to a maximum of five vouchers per month; 3) utilize estate recovery as the primary method to obtain repayment of aid as opposed to the execution of liens on GA recipients’ assets; and 4) align the County’s GA standard of aid with CalWORKs aid levels by implementing a 12% decrease to the County’s GA grant amounts with the first 6% grant reduction to be implemented effective August 1, 2011 and the second 6% reduction to be implemented January 1, 2012;

 

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY DETERMINED AND ORDERED that the following modifications to the rules and regulations concerning General Assistance administration are hereby approved:

A. The continuing eligibility requirements for General Assistance shall be modified to require quarterly redeterminations as opposed to monthly redeterminations;

B. Recipients of General Assistance grants shall be limited to a maximum of five vouchers per month; and

C. In lieu of executing liens on real property owned or thereafter acquired, a recipient of General Assistance may instead be required to execute an agreement entitling the County to pursue repayment of aid from the recipient’s estate.

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED AND ORDERED, that the General Assistance standard of aid shall be adjusted as follows:

    Effective August 1, 2011:

    From $359 to $338 for individuals who are living independently, in shared housing, or are homeless. For individuals in this group who are not eligible for and receiving Medi-Cal and therefore rely on the County of San Mateo to provide for their health care needs, $40 of this $338 will continue to be the value of in-kind health care needs, resulting in an decrease to $298.

    From $425 to $399 for individuals residing in a board and care facility.

    Effective January 1, 2012:

    From $338 to $317 for individuals who are living independently, in shared housing, or are homeless. For individuals in this group who are not eligible for and receiving Medi-Cal and therefore rely on the County of San Mateo to provide for their health care needs, $40 of this $317 will continue to be the value of in-kind health care needs, resulting in an decrease to $277

    From $399 to $374 for individuals residing in a board and care facility.

 

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