Ramsey County Board Workshop on Federal Shutdown Contingency Planning - October 27, 2025
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Ramsey County Board Workshop on Federal Shutdown Contingency Planning - October 27, 2025
The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners held a special workshop on October 27, 2025, to discuss contingency planning for the federal government shutdown and its impacts on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. The meeting, called by Chair Rafael Ortega, focused on funding timelines, administrative costs, staff impacts, and potential next steps. No votes were taken. County staff presented updates on the rapidly evolving situation, and commissioners provided direction on communication, advocacy, and further analysis.
Discussion Items
- Program Overview: Staff provided a summary of SNAP and WIC programs. SNAP serves about 440,000 Minnesotans, with over 34,000 active cases and an estimated 85,000 individuals in Ramsey County. WIC serves over 100,000 Minnesota residents, including nearly 18,000 in Ramsey County.
- Funding and Timelines: SNAP funding is expected to run out by November 1, 2025, while WIC funding is available through mid-November. Both benefit and administrative funding are at risk if the shutdown continues. The county administers eligibility and processing but does not control benefit distribution; that is handled by state and federal agencies.
- Financial Risk: For WIC, the county faces an estimated risk of $355,000 per month after grant and levy funds are exhausted. For SNAP, the risk is approximately $1.15 million per month. These costs cover administrative staff and operations, not benefits. Retroactive reimbursement from the federal government is uncertain, especially for SNAP due to the random moment study funding mechanism.
- Staff Impacts: Over 260 FTEs work on SNAP and 47.8 on WIC. Staff may be reassigned to other programs, but cross-training and logistical challenges exist. There is no notice requirement for potential layoffs, but any reductions would follow standard layoff processes. Bumping rights could cause disruption if staff are moved to other roles.
- Contingency Planning: Staff recommended a 30-day planning horizon, covering costs temporarily through fund balance or other grants, which would require board approval. They are exploring staff reassignment to non-disrupted programs. State coordination and guidance were requested, including potential funding guarantees.
- Communication and Advocacy: Commissioners emphasized the need for clear, accurate communication with residents, community partners, and legislators. They called for a coordinated message that highlights the federal government's role and the county's inability to fund benefits. Commissioner Zhang urged the board to issue a collective statement calling on residents, philanthropic organizations, and community partners to step up and support food shelves, and to advocate at the federal level.
- Broader Context: Several commissioners noted that this is one of many impacts from federal changes, and the overhead of contingency planning diverts resources from other county work. They requested demographic and financial breakdowns of program recipients and a broader analysis of budget and reserve impacts.
Key Outcomes
- Direction Given: The board affirmed the 30-day contingency planning approach. Staff will return with more detailed budget analysis, including the impact on fund balance and a breakdown of administrative versus benefit dollars flowing to residents.
- Next Steps: County Manager Ling Becker committed to providing a written situational update within a week, prior to the upcoming AMC District 10 meeting. The team will enhance communication efforts, including a front-facing county webpage and talking points for staff and partners.
- Future Meetings: The board requested more frequent updates, potentially biweekly, to stay abreast of developments. The next formal check-in is expected before Thanksgiving, but additional meetings may be scheduled as needed.
- Coordination: Staff will work with metro counties and state agencies to advocate for statewide solutions and funding assurances. Commissioners will also engage with federal and state legislators to highlight the local impacts.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, Commissioner Tanger, you're ready to go. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I'd like to call to order this special meeting of the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners. It is being recorded and live streamed. There will be no votes taken today today. Today is Friday, October 24th at 10 o'clock. My name is Rafael Otega, Ramsey County Commissioner for District 5. Why don't we go around the room with the commissioners and staff? And then Ling, why don't you just uh take it over right after that? Thank you, Mr. Cher. Do you want us to just start introducing ourselves, Mr. Chair? Mary Joe McGuire, Commissioner District 2. Introduce yourself. Yeah. Mary Joe McGuire, Commissioner District 2. Garrison McMurdo, Commissioner District 3. Kelly Miller, Commissioner District 7.4. Oh, my Chanchalong Ramsey County Commissioner District 6. Tara Jevinsing, Ramsey County Commissioner District 1. Lingbacker County Manager. Marissa Rabian Chief of Staff. Andrew Greenley, Deputy Chief of Staff. Jason Yane, Chief Clerk. Liz Brady, Ramsey County Attorney's Office, Civil Division. Alex Kitza, Chief Financial Officer. Francois, Deputy County Manager for the Information and Public Records Service Team. Kristen Schultz, HR manager. Joanna Berg, Deputy County Manager. Nadir Abdi, Deputy County Manager, Health and Wellness Service Team. Ready? I think so. All right. First of all, I want to just thank the board for their time this morning. I know this is a little bit unexpected to have to get together, but the people that have introduced themselves as staff have been working really diligently over the past uh few days and into probably a couple weeks here, trying to just uh help manage some of the impacts of the federal shutdown. And as we near some dates, um, there are some things happening both in community and and impacting our organization that we feel are important for the board to understand as context. So if we can go to the next slide, um, our goals today is to provide a high-level update of the uh to the board about the federal shutdown impacts, um, particularly as they uh uh surround the WIC program, women, infant and children, and the SNAP program, the supplemental nutrition aid program um that we receive federal funds to administer. Uh we are hoping to get some general direction on next steps as we approach November 1st and the subsequent dates beyond November 1st um to should the shutdown continue, as to some of the decisions that we will um be faced with as an organization. So if we can go to the next slide here, just a really quick uh agenda slide. We're gonna popcorn between some of the staff because there have been different people who are in really critical different spaces where we are getting updates and we want no subject that matter experts to uh share some of the information they on they know. In addition, uh we have Deputy County Manager Berg, uh our CHRO, um, our HR manager Kristen here, who are part of what's called the personal impact team, and they've been really helping us as we've been working on the 26-27 budget around how um staff get impacted by decisions. So we brought them in as sort of a functional uh uh experts to help us with some of the contingency planning as well. So today we're gonna be uh sharing a little bit about the background, a little bit about the response that we've already been made, which you have been getting updates at county board meetings and we've been sharing with the public as well, but we want to restate some of those. Um we're gonna talk a little bit about the contingency planning and some of the considerations that um we are taking um as we go forward. So, and then we'll have a chance to discuss. All right. Um, Mr.
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