Video: Skagit County budget cuts could affect needy families

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For more than three years, Kay Kim has been a client of Skagit County's "Women Infants and Children" program, or "WIC.”

WIC gives Kim, who is mother to an infant son and preschool-aged daughter, nutritional advice and helps her make ends meet.

"Every month I get milk and cheese," she said.

Soon, the advice and food may be gone.

The county Health Department needs to cut nearly $500,000 from its budget and WIC is on the chopping block.

"There's a lot of people out there who need this kind of program," said Kim.

"It taught us how to and what to feed the kids," said Graciela Ibarra-Vivanco

Ibarra-Vivanco is one of thousands who've been served by WIC, and now works for the program.

If WIC goes, she does too. But it's the people she's worried about.

"I think it's going to be hard for a lot of clients," she said.

Other potential cuts include the Vector Program, which tracks things like West Nile virus, and the "Welcome Baby" program, which helps educate new parents.

Health director Peter Browning says the department has spent years and hundred of thousands of dollars building these programs.

"So now looking at how we're going to slowly start to dismantle that is really disheartening," he said.

Skagit County commissioners will have the final say about what gets cut. The commissioners also act as the county's board of health. Their final decision is expected sometime in December.

Many other county health departments are in a similar bind. Both King County and Snohomish County say they will have to cut programs that help protect the public.