Shasta’s health and human services agency emphasizes commitment to essential services 

Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman sought to reassure the community in a press release today, saying the agency is working to ensure that financial pressures won’t result in a loss of state-mandated benefits. 

“Although difficult choices must be made,” Coleman said, “we want to reassure residents that the health agency is striving to preserve and maintain the services they rely on most.”

The statement follows Shasta Scout’s reporting yesterday highlighting recent county board statements about the potential to cut mandated social services as a cost-savings measure. A spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services told Shasta Scout this week that if the county did cut mandated social services — which include programs like In-Home Health Services, CalWorks and housing supports — that could lead to legal action from the state, including financial penalties. 

Today Coleman dispelled the idea that essential services could be reduced locally saying, “HHSA is not considering cutting state-mandated programs.”

That’s different from what she told supervisors last month when she said that the decision was up to the board, recommending supervisors talk to county council before suggesting a low-impact approach if they did move forward with the idea.

“I would recommend looking at the least impactful mandated programs if we decide to go down that route,” Coleman said at the time.

Shasta County’s Board of Supervisors approves the HHSA budget which Coleman administers. It’s a pot of more than $300 million, most of which is made up of state and federal funding sources. So far, discussion about the potential to decrease services to ease financial pressures has only been a topic of board conversation, with no movement towards an actual vote to do so.

HHSA has faced increasing financial scrutiny over the last year as staff have repeatedly returned to the county board for extensions on a loan from the general fund to shore up the agency’s social services fund. In presentations to the board, Coleman has explained financial issues by saying that revenue has not kept pace with expenditures, largely blaming those issues on deficiencies in state and federal funding sources. 

In today’s press release Coleman focused on the cost-savings measures her department has implemented over the past year, saying since May 2025, “HHSA leadership has undertaken a comprehensive review of every budget and every budget line.

Each expenditure has been evaluated,” she added, “by reviewing historical spending, assessing operational necessity, and identifying opportunities for cost reductions without compromising essential public services.”

She said fiscal accountability measures in the last year have included staff training and a strengthened partnership with both the county executive office and the auditor’s office through monthly financial meetings. The agency has also brought in two former HHSA branch directors — Leanne Link and Tracy Tedder — to assist with budgeting and reviewing social services claim processes. 

Additionally an extra-help retiree with “decades of experience in Social Services County Expense Claim” has been helping, Coleman wrote, “to ensure HHSA is maximizing all eligible state and federal reimbursement opportunities.”

Other measures she said the agency has taken over the last nine months include hiring freezes, renegotiated vendor contracts, downsizing of the HHSA vehicle fleet and initiation of a voluntary time off program for staff. She noted that cost-cutting measures have resulted in reducing social services expenditures by an average of $1.28 million a month. 

And more cost-cutting measures are already planned, Coleman added, without providing information on what might be cut to achieve those measures. 

The agency director also addressed the recent departure of a Chief Fiscal Officer Vicki Thompson, saying she’s no longer with the county due to “restructuring to improve efficiencies by eliminating duplicative roles.” That’s information Coleman did not share when asked about the reason for Thompson’s departure by Shasta Scout earlier this week.

Coleman said the role of the CFO will be merged under the responsibilities of Administration Branch Director Erinn Watts, who she said holds a masters degree in public management with a focus on public financial management. Thompson, like the previous CFO, worked under Watts.

Coleman plans to return to the county board in August, the press release said, to address changes related to H.R. 1., also known as the Big Beautiful Bill.

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