NORWICH – A report delivered to supervisors Monday about Chenango County’s Serendipity Cafe erupted into a debate about whether the New York State-awarded program for mentally disabled individuals could be used as an example of why taxes are high and why upstate cannot retain college graduates.
Before Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-North Norwich, ended it, Town of New Berlin Supervisor Ross P. Iannello expressed his frustration with fellow supervisor Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, who spoke against the Eaton Center-based vocational program for about 25 minutes.
“I think this has gone on too long. Dennis is getting out of the realm of what we have discussed. We are not going to straighten out the state’s problems by dumping this program,” Iannello said.
A handful of town leaders who gathered after the regularly scheduled monthly meeting at the County Office Building yesterday agreed that Brown’s charge against Serendipty Cafe had gone on too long, but said county governments should take small steps toward solving the state’s fiscal problems whenever possible.
“We have to start somewhere,” James B. Bays, D-Smyrna, said.
“That’s our job to do,” Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, said.
Supervisor David J. Messineo, D-Otselic, said that while he was pleased that Iannello “finally cut Brown off,” he agreed with Brown’s point.
Brown’s questioning followed a cost analysis and video presentation about Serendipity Cafe, delivered by Mental Hygiene Services Director Mary Ann Spryn. The video featured the program’s clients describing in their own words the skills that they had acquired and how the experience had made them feel more successful. Town supervisors had requested detailed information about the often-scrutinized program in June.
The report highlighted that from its inception in April 1998 through June of 2007, 132 people were at one time employed at the cafe. Of that number, 33 went into the workforce, 8 went to college, 20 remained trainees, 5 died, 3 were incarcerated, 19 have an unknown status, and 50 were unemployed.
The program is afforded each year with $192,000 in state taxpayer dollars awarded through the New York State Office of Mental Health and $13,700 through the New York State Vocational and Educational Services For Individuals with Disabilities. No local taxpayer funds are applied.
“The program operates with no deficit and no surplus,” Spryn said. Employees working with the cafe’s trainees double as vocational coaches in mental hygiene services programs.
“We are identified as a model program and the only program in the state that is funded by two different agencies that provides services to dually diagnosed individuals,” Spryn said.
After calculating the data during the 30-minute presentation, Brown said the program had cost the state’s taxpayers $5 to $6 million, including roughly $100,000 for each individual who later went on to a job.
“I’m always asking myself this question, is the money worth the benefit?” he said. “Two-thirds of these people are going to stay in the program. We are going to be dealing with this group for the rest of their lives. How do we stop this kind of expenditure ... because we say we do it out of the goodness of our hearts? People say the cost of doing business in New York is too expensive. ... Upstate ranks last in the nation for retaining college graduates. “
Spryn said the one-third who have gained employment after cafe training is “the one factor of this program that rates most highly.”
Brown said, “There must be some kind of modeling already out there that says how many people not attending a program like this would have gotten jobs after receiving mental health services anyway.”
He also referred to the $155,000 in retail sales earned by the cafe as “money that wasn’t spent on food at restaurants that do pay taxes” and asked how Serendipity Cafe differed from other programs in the area that assist mentally and physically disabled individuals, such as Norwich’s Community Workshop Services.
In order to answer him, Spryn had to ask Brown three times to clarify his questions.
After hearing Spryn’s presentation and viewing the video last week, Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jeffrey B. Blanchard, R-Pitcher, said he didn’t think he was in the position to determine whether the report justified the Serendipity program or not. “How do you judge these people that are in this program? How you set a dollar value to how you are helping them?” he asked.