Going into a budget season following a serious shortfall in 2025, two of Lewis County’s largest departments are seeking modest increases.
Lewis County hosted its last day-long preliminary budget meeting Tuesday. The meeting featured presentations from two of the county’s largest departments, Lewis County Public Health and Social Services and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, which also manages the Lewis County Jail.
Each of the departments made their pitches to a packed house, including the Lewis County Board of Commissioners and the Citizens Budget Committee.
During the meeting, the public health department asked for enough funding to bring on two additional staff members for different programs. One of those positions would need to be paid from the county general fund, while the other could be supported through a county fund dedicated to disability services.
The sheriff’s office asked for a small budget increase for the Lewis County Jail to support the increasing costs of providing medical services in the jail and asked to receive six new vehicles as opposed to the reduced four vehicles the department received under the 2025 budget.
Public Health and Social Services
The Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Department ultimately requested a 2026 budget of $11.3 million. The request included funding for two additional full-time positions in the department. According to estimates provided by Department Director Meja Handlen and her team, the positions would come at the cost of $210,260 in the county’s 2026 budget and $198,000 in the county’s 2027 budget.
An estimated $108,260 of that sum for 2026 would come from the county general fund. Handlen’s team said the rest could be taken from a county millage fund restricted for use on developmental disability services.
The first of the two positions requested by Handlen and her department is a health services worker. The employee would improve staffing for the county’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, more commonly known as WIC.
The program is similar to food stamps or EBT, but instead provides money exclusively to mothers and is more restrictive in what can be purchased, only permitting purchase of food that meets certain nutritional standards.
While the program is largely funded by the federal government through grants, about 20% — just over $150,000 — is funded by the county out of the general fund. According to data from the department, it's one of the few programs within Lewis County Public Health and Social Services that receives county general fund dollars.
The other position for public health would be a community outreach worker dedicated to the county’s developmental disabilities program. The program helps students with developmental disabilities in local school districts transition from school to jobs.
“There are approximately 14 students exiting this school year who are eligible for transition based services. That again doubles in 2027, so our Developmental Disabilities Coordinator Sarah Sons has done an amazing job over the past seven years building the program,” Handlen said. “But that one person is not able to go out to the 12 school districts working with the special education teachers and families to prepare them for the next step in their lives.”
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza led the sheriff's office budget request with help from Undersheriff Kevin Engelbertson, Field Operations Chief Rick Van Wyck and Special Services Chief Gabriel Frase, who attended the meeting in person.
Snaza attended via a video call.
The sheriff’s office budget request came in at around $10.5 million for the sheriff’s office and another $10.75 million for the Lewis County Jail.
During the meeting, the sheriff’s office made a specific request for an approximately $30,000 increase in the jail budget. The request would help fund medical services in the jail. The sheriff’s office also reiterated a previous request that it receive six new service vehicles instead of the reduced four they received in the 2025 budget amid a major shortfall.
Other budget concerns touched on for the sheriff’s office include union bargaining with five different groups, which could affect the office’s bottom line, and fluctuating funding from opioid settlements that help fund the jail. Those issues, however, are as of yet uncertain and will be discussed more in-depth at later dates.
Van Wyck spoke during the meeting, testifying to the sheriff’s office’s need for new vehicles with both him and Snaza airing concerns that receiving fewer vehicles will hurt the county in the long run by leaving a backlog of outdated and overworked machines.
“We've blown an engine on one car this year, and we've had numerous mechanical problems on a lot of these cars that are getting over 100,000 miles,” Van Wyck said. “So that's kind of where we sit right now. I think it's kind of a need of ours to get six new vehicles and keep the rotation going as much as we can here.”
The county commissioners ultimately officially approved the allocation for six vehicles, notifying county staff to make the appropriate changes in the budget estimates moving forward.
According to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Chief Chris Sweet, the jail budget increase was prompted by a sudden rate increase from the jail's medical provider and actually represents a possible cost savings.
In a statement provided to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners and members of the Citizens Budget Committee, Sweet explained a difficult situation for the local jail.
According to Sweet, the budget increase would allow the jail to switch medical providers from its previous provider, NaphCare/Everhealth, to Correctional Healthcare Partners. The sudden change was prompted by NaphCare notifying the county in June that it would increase its previously agreed rates for medical care by $300,000 starting in September and ask for an almost $1 million increase the following year.
The jail’s new provider, however, will provide the services at an amount of approximately $30,000 more than what the county had expected.
“I know there's a 30% cost increase, but overall, if you look at going down the road in the next years, it's much less expensive than it would have been had we stayed with NaphCare,” Snaza said.
Sweet added that due to work experience and staffing overlap, the transition between providers should be relatively smooth.
“The good thing is probably 40% of CHP employees as far as the management side of it are all from NaphCare,” Sweet said. “So we're not recreating the wheel.”
