Klickitat County Health Department faces fiscal shortfall

Also that morning, the board gave verbal approval for the treasurer’s office to post a job opening for a senior accountant, exempting it from the current hiring freeze due to its critical function.

In the afternoon session, the Klickitat County’s Health Department reported it was facing a major financial crisis after the state cut its funding by $400,000 for Fiscal Year 2027, representing a 14% decrease in its overall budget.

New federal and state rules for the SNAP (food stamp) program required able-bodied adults without dependents to perform 80 hours of work or volunteer activities per month. It was estimated that between 500-600 county residents were at risk of losing their SNAP benefits due to these new requirements, with significant concern that there were not enough available volunteer or work opportunities in the rural county to meet this demand.

Additionally, the county board of health identified a need to shift from a reactive, procedural body to a more proactive one, planning a future workshop to establish bylaws and set strategic priorities to address growing health and economic disparities in the community.

And commissioners initiated a discussion to explore options for managing the “heavy burden” of public disclosure requests, including potentially creating a dedicated position.