Social Services looks at 7 percent increase
NORWICH – Chenango County taxpayers will pay seven percent more for social services next year if estimates predicting a nearly $23.5 million budget are on the mark.
The pending fallout from Wall Street’s losses and another round of possible program cuts from Governor David Patterson’s office loom heavy on the horizon, however.
“Without Wall Street ... New York State’s not going to be bringing in any money. ... The state’s going to be in dire straits pretty soon. It’s got to go somewhere. We are between a rock and a hard place,” Supervisor Richard Schlag, D-German, said at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee Tuesday.
Chenango County Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne reported that the number of caseloads “exploded” this year with 244 receiving family and safety net assistance compared to 174 total cases in 2006. The number of youths living in juvenile detention centers also increased, with four in facilities at a rate of $40,000 per child per year.
Osborne said she expected the number of family and safety net cases to edge up further because of the financial crisis.
The budget also reflects the loss of a foster care block grant and rising Medicaid, heating fuel and day-to-day travel costs.
Without union increases added in, salaries and overtime budgeted for 2009 total $3.5 million.
DSS employs 119 full and part-time workers, including care providers at Preston Manor, the county’s residential home for seniors. Osborne, who won approval to add another caseworker this year, said one position per year on average has been added to the department during her six-year tenure as commissioner.
Schlag seconded New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello’s motion to pass the budget along to the Finance Committee for further review. After doing so, he called the budget “a joke.”
“Is there anything that we cannot do here? Is there anything that we have control over? We don’t even have control over the income levels for people who get services,” he said.
“I’m a pretty sympathetic person, but how long does this go on? We can’t do it on and on, can’t keep shifting this to property owners. What’s the breaking point?” he asked.
Osborne said the only expenses controlled on the local level are personnel and overtime. “We do diversion. We try all of the time, keeping people from getting into programs. But, caseloads are going up.”
“This (budget) can all change. All this can change because of Wall Street,” Supervisor Robert Briggs, R-Afton, said.
The pending fallout from Wall Street’s losses and another round of possible program cuts from Governor David Patterson’s office loom heavy on the horizon, however.
“Without Wall Street ... New York State’s not going to be bringing in any money. ... The state’s going to be in dire straits pretty soon. It’s got to go somewhere. We are between a rock and a hard place,” Supervisor Richard Schlag, D-German, said at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee Tuesday.
Chenango County Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne reported that the number of caseloads “exploded” this year with 244 receiving family and safety net assistance compared to 174 total cases in 2006. The number of youths living in juvenile detention centers also increased, with four in facilities at a rate of $40,000 per child per year.
Osborne said she expected the number of family and safety net cases to edge up further because of the financial crisis.
The budget also reflects the loss of a foster care block grant and rising Medicaid, heating fuel and day-to-day travel costs.
Without union increases added in, salaries and overtime budgeted for 2009 total $3.5 million.
DSS employs 119 full and part-time workers, including care providers at Preston Manor, the county’s residential home for seniors. Osborne, who won approval to add another caseworker this year, said one position per year on average has been added to the department during her six-year tenure as commissioner.
Schlag seconded New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello’s motion to pass the budget along to the Finance Committee for further review. After doing so, he called the budget “a joke.”
“Is there anything that we cannot do here? Is there anything that we have control over? We don’t even have control over the income levels for people who get services,” he said.
“I’m a pretty sympathetic person, but how long does this go on? We can’t do it on and on, can’t keep shifting this to property owners. What’s the breaking point?” he asked.
Osborne said the only expenses controlled on the local level are personnel and overtime. “We do diversion. We try all of the time, keeping people from getting into programs. But, caseloads are going up.”
“This (budget) can all change. All this can change because of Wall Street,” Supervisor Robert Briggs, R-Afton, said.
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