On Monday, November 18 the Minnesota Department of Health (DHS) notified counties that many of them received overpayments from the state, and now that money must be repaid.
After hearing from DHS, Cook County Public Health and Human Services Director Alison McIntyre said the state had identified three separate payment issues that would impact counties.
The first issue, McIntyre said, is related to the county share of payments to certain residential treatment facilities. “DHS underestimated the county share for the cost of care for treatment when county residents are receiving treatment. Compared to other counties, the fiscal impact to Cook County is very small. DHS estimates around $2,000 will need to be repaid from Cook County due to this error.”
The second issue identified is related to foster care payments. A recent federal change requires enhanced background studies for residential foster care settings that receive Title IV-E funds.
“Counties are unable to claim any federal funding for these costs until the facilities come into compliance with the background checks,” said McIntyre. “We do not have an estimate from DHS on the potential expense to Cook County, but based on the number of Cook County children who were placed in care since the change went into effect, we are anticipating a minimal impact. Our agency received less than $3,000 in IV-E reimbursement since July 1st, 2019 which is the time frame referenced by DHS.”
The third issue raised in DHS Commissioner Harpstead’s letter was related to cash assistance overpayments that were incorrectly cited, McIntyre said. “DHS guidance to counties and tribes resulted in some individuals incorrectly having to repay overpayments. Counties impacted by this would need to repay any households that were assessed overpayments in error.
“There is no hard cost to counties as these are state or federal funds for cash assistance grants; however, there would be additional work for eligibility and accounting staff to recalculate and refund any impacted households.
“Again, based on our small population and the minimal number of claims that we are setting up for overpayments, we do not estimate a significant impact.
“I am still learning more from the State and the statewide associations that I’m involved with on a timeframe for resolving these issues. At this point, I anticipate no significant impact on the PHHS budget for 2019 or 2020.” County attempts to recoup funds
A miscommunication between a contractor hired to clear land for a runway extension at the Cook County/Grand Marais airport might leave the county on the hook for more than half a million dollars in overruns.
At the county board’s November 12 meeting, commissioners learned that the crew that cleared the runway extension for the Cook County airport extension removed about 88 extra acres of trees and obstructions outside of the assigned area for clearing. After discovering the mistake, the FAA determined the costs attributed to that work were not eligible for federal funding ($507,769.65).
At the county board’s request, county attorney Molly Hicken has talked with outside counsel to determine if the county should pursue a case of negligence with the contractor in an attempt to recover some of the unfunded costs.
Hicken explained the dilemma this way.
“We received a grant long before the work for reimbursement of approved expenses related to construction of the runway extension,” Hicken said. “These expenses were approved,” said Hicken, and paid by the county.
“The issue is that we are not being reimbursed for those expenses as we anticipated we would be by the FAA/MNDOT grants.
“This is related to the allegation that the trees were cleared in violation of federal rules and law.
“The tree-clearing is one expense not being reimbursed.
“There is also another expense, rock-blasting in the same area, not being reimbursed for the same reason,” Hicken said.
Leave a Reply