Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency loses second CFO in as many years
HHSA’s former CFO was hired to manage and oversee all fiscal and accounting services. But she wasn’t included in public efforts to address HHSA’s dire financial situation over the last year. Supervisor Matt Plummer believes implementing an external audit to address specific areas within HHSA finances may be needed.
Two years, two departures.
Vicki Thompson, the former chief fiscal officer at Shasta County’s Health and Human Services Agency, left her role last week. HHSA directed questions about the CFO’s departure to Support Services Director Monica Fugitt, who confirmed only that Thompson’s last day with the county was July 2, saying she could provide no further comment.
According to multiple HHSA staff sources — who spoke to Shasta Scout on the condition of anonymity — Thompson had been digging into the agency’s housing finances prior to her departure. That’s something HHSA has neither confirmed nor denied.
Housing is only one of many departments under HHSA, which has a budget of about $300 million. It operates around 100 programs and employs about 1,000 staff. Questions about financial management have plagued the agency over the last several years.
The CFO role was created in 2024 by HHSA Director Christy Coleman’s predecessor, Laura Burch. Thompson is the second person to hold the position since then, replacing the agency’s first CFO, Rahsaan Dean, who lasted only two months. He told Shasta Scout shortly after his departure from the county that he was terminated from HHSA after raising concerns about agency finances, a claim the county did not respond to.
Thompson was hired by HHSA last spring to manage and oversee “all fiscal and accounting services” in return for a salary of around $100,000. Since then she has not been brought forward to provide public insight into HHSA finances, even as the agency struggled with a financial shortfall severe enough to require an ongoing $10 million loan from the county’s general fund.
Instead, Coleman and Administrative Branch Director Erinn Watts — Thompson’s direct supervisor — have taken the lead in public conversations on finances, largely blaming the agency’s financial difficulties on changes at the state and federal level. Those financial issues may necessitate staff furloughs, Coleman said last month, as the board also discussed the possibility of cutting state-required public services to address budget woes.
Supervisor Matt Plummer said today that he has never met or spoken with the agency’s former CFO and was not aware of her departure. Describing in-depth conversations he’s had with Coleman, Watts and others about HHSA finances, he said Thompson’s lack of involvement in those discussions indicates her position likely wasn’t involved in HHSA finances in a “meaningful way.”
“Watts seems to be carrying the public-facing weight in terms of the finances,” Plummer said, “which I think was how it was historically handled before the CFO position was created.”
That might indicate that the CFO position should be eliminated, Plummer added, noting that he would want to discuss more with agency leaders before coming to any conclusions.
Getting to the root of the issue
This isn’t the first time Plummer has posed big questions to the ailing agency. After former CFO Dean’s departure in July of 2024, Plummer said he would push for an audit of HHSA’s finances. He changed his mind after Thompson was hired, saying he wanted to pursue proactive measures like encouraging the establishment of financial dashboards for the department and piloting program-based budgets.
While no public-facing dashboards have been created, he confirmed today, HHSA has worked to implement forward-facing approaches to budgeting over the last year. That’s occurred alongside significant efforts at cost reductions, he added, something he’s grateful to HHSA leaders for working hard to implement.
But Plummer said it still bothers him that he can’t adequately explain the reason for the tenuous financial position the agency is in, especially when it comes to the social services and mental health funds. Blaming the issue on circumstances outside of the county’s control would provide an easy answer, he said. But Plummer would like to see the county do more to understand whether there are issues within Shasta’s control that might be impacting the agency, especially when it comes to revenue.
Processes related to how the county bills and seeks reimbursement for state and federally funded services, for example, could impact how much revenue the county obtains. The supervisor said he thinks outside scrutiny may be needed to ensure county leaders have a handle on where the problems are occurring.
“I do think it may be time to consider looking at an external audit,” Plummer said, although implementing one would require deciding which parts of HHSA’s complex financial processes should be scrutinized, and in what way.
Along with deciding on specific funds to examine, he added, the county would also need to determine whether it was auditing expenses, revenue or both.
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There are probably a myriad of issues that are at the root of this problem. Most likely, HHSA is overstaffed in areas with high county share of costs (low state and fed reimbursement), staff not time studying correctly, poor management, etc.
This isn’t an audit problem per se- it’s most likely a revenue problem and when leadership doesn’t know how to draw down revenue or understand the claiming mechanism for Social Services dollars then this is what you get.
HHSA would be wise to identify 2-3 competent staff to learn the county expense claim (the mechanism for claiming for Social Services) and invest heavily in training to get them up to speed quickly. This isn’t going to be an easy fix. As Donnell Ewert said in an another article, “it takes a short time to destroy,” and “it takes a long time to rebuild.”
MAGAs seem to think that financial audits cast some sort of magical spell over an organization that is presumed to be corrupted in one way or another. Certainly, a careful independent audit is a useful tool, but it’s not a panacea. It doesn’t automatically correct whatever problems it identifies.
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And boy, do we have problems. HSSA has wide-ranging duties to fulfill and issues to address, all growing over time. At the same time, the State of California is facing budgetary belt-tightening, and Orange Jesus, M.D. has gutted federal funding of housing, health, and food programs. If the only agenda of an audit is to seek out fraud (the obsession of MAGAs), it’ll by design find alleged but unsubstantiated fraud rather than solutions.
It’s unassuming and uneducated comments like this, but are so unhelpful and so damned ridiculous! As if you’re trying to convince me that the Democrat party and the liberal left are fiscally responsible!! we have a serious housing issue in this country! Why you ask? Because we’ve allowed 20 million illegal immigrants to come into the country without a penny in their pocket. There’s your goddamn problem in every asset of government! You people come right out of a crackerjack box. Pretty simple shit. These social issues hurt the tax paying citizen who is supposed to support HHSA! What is the conclusion of the left higher more auditors that cost money when they should fucking know how to audit a lousy PNL! And then you have abrasive liberal left media doing nothing but stalking the fire and doing anything but telling the truth! Come on people it’s time to stop being blinded!
I am having trouble with Plummer’s timeline and explanation.
agency’s first CFO, Rahsaan Dean, who lasted only two months. He told Shasta Scout shortly after his departure from the county that he was terminated from HHSA after raising concerns about agency finances, a claim the county did not respond to
Wouldn’t this be an important matter to dig into by, say, Plummer himself. I found this dismissal questionable when I first read of it.
Thompson was hired by HHSA last spring to manage and oversee “all fiscal and accounting services”
Ok maybe we will get some answers to the department’s fiscal issues.
This isn’t the first time Plummer has posed big questions to the ailing agency. After former CFO Dean’s departure in July of 2024, Plummer said he would push for an audit of HHSA’s finances. He changed his mind after Thompson was hired, saying he wanted to pursue proactive measures like encouraging the establishment of financial dashboards for the department and piloting program-based budgets.
So Plummer changes his mind after her (Thompson’s) hiring? What that things are magically going to fix themselves?
While no public-facing dashboards have been created, he confirmed today, HHSA has worked to implement forward-facing approaches to budgeting over the last year. That’s occurred alongside significant efforts at cost reductions, he added, something he’s grateful to HHSA leaders for working hard to implement.
No pubic-facing dashboards have been created? Cutting payroll to an already understaffed and underpaid agency? Being grateful?
Supervisor Matt Plummer said today that he has never met or spoken with the agency’s former CFO (Thompson)
What???? He has NEVER spoken or met with Thompson?
What is going on in this county???????
An audit is way overdue. This is the thing that usually happens when you start placing people in top positions who have little to no experience.
A common misconception is that Shasta County simply needs an outside audit of HHSA.
We already have one. Every year. The annual reports are public and can be read by anyone:
https://www.shastacounty.gov/media/81366
Shasta County undergoes an annual independent external financial audit performed by a specialized government accounting firm—currently CliftonLarsonAllen LLP. The Auditor/Controller, Nolda Short, and County CEO, David Rickert, have signed the county’s annual financial report, certifying that it fairly represents the county’s financial condition.
The books can be balanced from an accounting perspective while a department is still experiencing serious operational problems. Those are two different issues.
The county’s own annual reports acknowledge that HHSA has faced significant challenges while stating that management is addressing them.
Those representations are part of an official public document signed by the County CEO and Auditor/Controller.
So the question isn’t whether Shasta County has financial oversight—it does.
The question is whether county leadership (specifically Ms. Nolda and Mr. Rickert, who have signed off on the county’s annual external audits) acted early enough, and with sufficient oversight and transparency, when it became clear HHSA was struggling. This one’s on them.
At the outset, there is a shortage of qualified top-level people in the acounting field that has driven salaries higher. $100k for a CFO of an agency such as HHSA is substandard by that measure.
Secondly, there has been a trend, nationally and on the state level, to misuse and abuse HHSA programs. I’m of the opinion that we do need an outside audit and a wage/salary analysis for all HHSA positions.
We then need full public disclosures of the results.
Properly managed, HHSA programs should provide extensive positive benefits to citizens in real need.
How loudly do we have to yell? Fire!! Fire!!! AUDIT HHSA FISCAL!
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Why do you think Christy and Erinn take the lead when representing fiscal issues, like at budget hearings? They do not want a CFO or Branch Director to mess up the narrative they are spinning.
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For Pete’s sake, SOMEBODY hire an independent auditor. Audit Housing (“no money” but somehow still operating) and Social Services (hemorrhaging cash). Both revenue and expenditures – you need the whole picture. While you’re at it, audit how well we’re (not) doing at collecting MediCal funds for Mental Health services provided and paid for.
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Get the facts. Stop looking the other way and hoping things will magically improve. Who gives a TEN million dollar loan without doing a credit check and making sure the business is viable? I can’t even.
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DON’T eliminate the CFO position. Come on!!!!! Really? It is imperative to have a CFO who does NOT report to HHSA leadership (a.k.a. the people who can fire them or push them out). Have them report to the Auditor-Controller.
They should have an outside audit and not by the State. Both Social Services and Housing need to be audited. I went toe to toe with Trisha Boss about the lack of Housing Funds and Social Services? How they broke that fund is beyond me other than getting rid of the employees who know how to run that budget, they are completely dumbfounded and have no clue.