NORWICH – The number of Medicaid recipients in Chenango County has doubled over the past decade, according to a report by the Department of Social Services Commissioner, Bette Osborne.
When comparing caseloads from 2008 to 2009, the numbers receiving emergency services, food stamps and cash assistance were also up, from about 13 to 20 percent.
Osborne presented those statistics and more on Monday as part of her 2009 annual report to the Chenango County Board of Supervisors. She said the numbers of caseloads were the most she has seen in 17 years on the job.
The stressful economy has resulted in more volatile newcomers to DSS offices at the County Office Building. Osborne said the Norwich City Police have been called to the site more often than in the past.
“New clients are angry to be there. They are humiliated. They aren’t used to filling out 12-page applications,” she said.
With the cost for Social Services programs absorbing nearly 50 percent of the county’s $80.8 million budget for this year, other sectors such as economic development, culture and recreation, and home and community services are falling out of the pie.
“We are getting further, and further away from helping people solve local problems,” said Finance Committee Vice Chairman Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia.
The supervisor from Coventry, Republican John Phelan, noted the number of Medicaid cases would increase even further with the nation’s new health care package.
“It used to be the assistance was for people who were just plain poor. But, in this case, we are going to have a whole new class of people on Medicaid.” Phelan said he would be counting “working stiffs like myself” in that category.
The impact of a recent New York State Department of Health proposal to take over the administration of Medicaid from counties would be “a huge endeavor” with uncertain benefits to the county, Osborne said. Unless the state’s government assumes the cost of the program as well there could be a 12 to 15 percent annual increase in the state cap on Medicaid reimbursements.
“It would be out of our hands if they take it over, which could be good, but it could also be more expensive for us ... unless they decide to simplify eligibility,” she said. “If they take over Medicaid administration, whether they take over staff or pay us for people, and where the contracts would fall, nobody knows yet.”
Medicaid affords about 10 to 20 percent of all but a quarter of Chenango’s social services employees’ salaries.
Supervisors Brown said the state is merely looking for revenue. “They are broke and they want your administration money. Counties can’t allow that to happen. It would be a mistake.”
Board Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, commented: “I don’t need to tell anyone here because you already know it. They are absolutely broke up there in Albany. They don’t have the money now and they are not going to have the money in a month from now.”
The Commissioner shared some good news from within the child preventative and protective services units where the number of Foster Care cases fell from a high of 115 children in 2002 and 2003 to 62 in 2009. The division managed 128 cases in 2009, many of which showed positive outcomes through maintenance of the family unit, Osborne said.
Costs to replace the water and sewer systems at Preston Manor are expected to be further financial challenges for the department.
Brown deferred the DSS report to the Finance Committee for further discussion. He said it was necessary “to map our way through this real mess we are in.”

Natural Gas Drilling
Lawmakers received a letter from Kenneth Fogarty of Guilford that questioned the Chenango County natural gas consultant’s role as an economic developer. Fogarty said he attended a meeting of the Chenango, Otsego, Delaware, Madison Regional Natural Gas Collaborative Committee where he said Consultant Steven Palmatier’s answer to a question “puzzled him.”
“Palmatier responded that such environmental issues are beyond the purview of his committee. ... It appears to me than any such deliberations, constrained by a specious definition that divorces economic development from its impact on the environment, and that keeps a blind eye on other possible negative effects to our community, would with almost near certainty yield flawed and useless recommendations,” the letter stated.
Supervisor Bays said he welcomed Fogarty’s input, saying he agreed that natural gas drilling should be conducted “cautiously and carefully” due to its potential to impact the environment.
Chairman Decker said Palmatier was not hired to answer questions about environmental safety-related policies and procedures, only about economic development. “That’s not why we hired him,” he told Fogarty.
Fogarty said he was specifically concerned that Japanese, Indian and other foreign energy companies that are begnning to purchase a stake in the Marcellus Shale play will be less concerned about honoring environmental provisions in a landowner’s lease than would American companies. He also said he worried more about emissions from natural gas transmission systems than from hydraulic fracturing, a process currently under intense scrutinty by both the state and federal governments.