BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 New York counties are facing an estimated $170 million in additional annual costs to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after a new federal law reduced Washington\u2019s share of the funding.<\/p>\n
The change, part of President Donald Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, took effect Oct. 1, reducing the federal government\u2019s contribution toward SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 25%.<\/p>\n
With counties preparing their budgets for next year, local leaders say the additional expenses could force difficult decisions about spending on other services.<\/p>\n
Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, said counties may have to reduce spending elsewhere to cover the costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to cut programs and services, pave less roads and bridges, reduce expenditures for other non-mandatory or what\u2019s called discretionary spending programs for the elderly,\u201d Acquario said.<\/p>\n
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Erie County faces budget pressure<\/p>\n
In Western New York, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he is budgeting nearly $14 million in SNAP-related costs for next year.<\/p>\n
The county\u2019s proposed 2027 budget is due Oct. 15, leaving officials to determine how to absorb the additional expenses while balancing other financial obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the federal government. I can\u2019t print money. So I have to basically reduce expenses elsewhere to make up for the additional amount that we have to pay,\u201d Poloncarz said.<\/p>\n
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Hochul questioned about state assistance<\/p>\n
Spectrum News political reporter Nai Rhoden pressed Gov. Kathy Hochul on whether New York would step in to help counties cover the increased costs.<\/p>\n
Hochul criticized the Trump administration\u2019s SNAP changes and pointed to money the state has already spent offsetting federal cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been helping. I can\u2019t tell you how many years we\u2019ve had to backfill,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n
However, the governor did not directly commit to providing additional funding for the latest administrative cost shift.<\/p>\n
Acquario said NYSAC has discussed the issue with Hochul\u2019s administration and state budget officials but has not received a commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been no commitments made by the governor, by the budget director of the state of New York,\u201d Acquario said. \u201cBut we have made it clear that the magnitude of this cost shift is beyond the capacity of local taxpayers and that we need their help.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Other SNAP changes raise concerns<\/p>\n
Counties are also preparing for separate federal changes affecting SNAP eligibility and future benefit-related costs.<\/p>\n
Expanded work requirements could affect which residents remain eligible for food assistance.<\/p>\n
Catherine Schick of FeedMore WNY said some families may not realize how the changes could affect their benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other people who may suddenly not be eligible for SNAP as a result of SNAP cuts,\u201d Schick said.<\/p>\n
NYSAC has called for a two-year delay in implementing separate SNAP benefit cost-sharing provisions to give local governments more time to prepare.<\/p>\n
With the Nov. 3 midterm elections approaching, county officials are watching whether a change in control of Congress could lead to changes in federal policy.<\/p>\n
However, any reversal of the enacted funding changes would require new federal legislation.<\/p>\n
For now, counties must prepare their budgets under the existing law, with no commitment from New York state to cover the additional administrative expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 New York counties are facing an estimated $170 million in additional annual costs to administer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[127050,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,108,87,200],"class_list":["post-369426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-nai-rhoden","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}