Social Services, mental health directors dealing with extender bill cuts
NORWICH – Chenango County’s social and mental hygiene services directors say programming and spending cuts in Governor David Paterson’s extender bills won’t have a significant impact locally.
Chenango County Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne said her department was “lucky” to only lose $20,000 in flexible funding passed through from the federal government. New York State, as a whole, will have to live with $4.6 million less.
DSS uses the funding stream to pay contracts for children’s services and, in part, for administration. The department budgeted $2.34 in flex funds for 2010.
“We can make it up by tweaking contracts. I’m confident that we’ll break even and can absorb the loss,” Osborne told a county committee last week.
DSS will have one less option for helping welfare recipients get back to work, however. New York State will end a Morrisville State College program that assisted unemployed or underemployed individuals with finding local jobs that pay above minimum wage. The so called “bridge” program covered tuition, uniforms, and textbooks for clients, and employers were reimbursed for worker’s wages for an agreed upon time period.
A 55 percent cut in funding for summer youth employment programs has already been remedied locally, with DSS and its community partners cutting the number of worksites in the community from eight to four.
Osborne said DSS’ Child Protective Services Unit would be slightly affected next year, with a 2 percent cut, and another 2 percent cut in a Foster Care Block grant would be felt in the fourth quarter of 2011. Chenango County has a low foster care placements, Osborne said, but typically uses up the grant in the third quarter before tapping into local share.
A new, but unfunded proposal for kinship/guardianship care would pose yet another administration burden, she said.
The “real eye opener,” said the commissioner, is that an Assembly bill calling for New York State to administer Medicaid programs is being backed by both the Senate and Gov. Paterson.
“It’s not passed yet. But, it would be very damaging. Not only would we lose local contact with people, but it would affect 30 percent of our administration money for overhead...that includes lights, rent, buildings maintenance, attorney and fraud,” said Osborne.
While Medicaid administration is only 2 percent of the county’s Medicaid budget, about 17 employees’ jobs would be affected. There are 97 on staff in social services.
An item in one of Paterson’s extender bills gave the state the authority to administer counties’ Medicaid-funded transportation services. Osborne said this was the first step in the takeover.
Apart from the myriad of Medicaid unknowns and annual employee salary increases, Osborne said she plans no increase in her budget for 2011. She added that the department lost five employees in the spring, however - all to better paying jobs in the non-profit sector.
Chenango County Mental Hygiene Services Director Ruth Roberts said she anticipated a trickle down affect from cuts to state-operated facilities that the governor pushed through.
“The details can still be worked out, and they aren’t immediate. Most of the challenges will be related to managing our limited services. Hopefully we can work with the state,” she said.
A developmental center in Broome County operated by the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disorders is slated to close in 2013. Roberts said she was unaware of any patients that may return to Chenango County, but said they were mostly elderly, severely mentally retarded and medically fragile individuals.
Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays inquired about the viability of mental health’s Serendipity restaurant work program at the Eaton Center. Though it is not currently threatened under the state’s budget proposals, Roberts said it “wouldn’t make sense for that level of opportunity or support for clients to end.”
“We would lose a very important piece for individuals who are in the process of getting their life back together. It would be a huge loss. It is a stepping stone to recovery from both alcohol abuse and mental illness,” she said.
Chenango County Treasurer William E. Evans said the county is behind about $1.5 million in state reimbursables for children’s services, Preston Manor and other social services programs. As the lag continues, other counties in New York are threatening to hold up grants, he said.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions yet,” Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said last Thursday upon hearing the department directors’ updates.
Chenango County Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne said her department was “lucky” to only lose $20,000 in flexible funding passed through from the federal government. New York State, as a whole, will have to live with $4.6 million less.
DSS uses the funding stream to pay contracts for children’s services and, in part, for administration. The department budgeted $2.34 in flex funds for 2010.
“We can make it up by tweaking contracts. I’m confident that we’ll break even and can absorb the loss,” Osborne told a county committee last week.
DSS will have one less option for helping welfare recipients get back to work, however. New York State will end a Morrisville State College program that assisted unemployed or underemployed individuals with finding local jobs that pay above minimum wage. The so called “bridge” program covered tuition, uniforms, and textbooks for clients, and employers were reimbursed for worker’s wages for an agreed upon time period.
A 55 percent cut in funding for summer youth employment programs has already been remedied locally, with DSS and its community partners cutting the number of worksites in the community from eight to four.
Osborne said DSS’ Child Protective Services Unit would be slightly affected next year, with a 2 percent cut, and another 2 percent cut in a Foster Care Block grant would be felt in the fourth quarter of 2011. Chenango County has a low foster care placements, Osborne said, but typically uses up the grant in the third quarter before tapping into local share.
A new, but unfunded proposal for kinship/guardianship care would pose yet another administration burden, she said.
The “real eye opener,” said the commissioner, is that an Assembly bill calling for New York State to administer Medicaid programs is being backed by both the Senate and Gov. Paterson.
“It’s not passed yet. But, it would be very damaging. Not only would we lose local contact with people, but it would affect 30 percent of our administration money for overhead...that includes lights, rent, buildings maintenance, attorney and fraud,” said Osborne.
While Medicaid administration is only 2 percent of the county’s Medicaid budget, about 17 employees’ jobs would be affected. There are 97 on staff in social services.
An item in one of Paterson’s extender bills gave the state the authority to administer counties’ Medicaid-funded transportation services. Osborne said this was the first step in the takeover.
Apart from the myriad of Medicaid unknowns and annual employee salary increases, Osborne said she plans no increase in her budget for 2011. She added that the department lost five employees in the spring, however - all to better paying jobs in the non-profit sector.
Chenango County Mental Hygiene Services Director Ruth Roberts said she anticipated a trickle down affect from cuts to state-operated facilities that the governor pushed through.
“The details can still be worked out, and they aren’t immediate. Most of the challenges will be related to managing our limited services. Hopefully we can work with the state,” she said.
A developmental center in Broome County operated by the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disorders is slated to close in 2013. Roberts said she was unaware of any patients that may return to Chenango County, but said they were mostly elderly, severely mentally retarded and medically fragile individuals.
Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays inquired about the viability of mental health’s Serendipity restaurant work program at the Eaton Center. Though it is not currently threatened under the state’s budget proposals, Roberts said it “wouldn’t make sense for that level of opportunity or support for clients to end.”
“We would lose a very important piece for individuals who are in the process of getting their life back together. It would be a huge loss. It is a stepping stone to recovery from both alcohol abuse and mental illness,” she said.
Chenango County Treasurer William E. Evans said the county is behind about $1.5 million in state reimbursables for children’s services, Preston Manor and other social services programs. As the lag continues, other counties in New York are threatening to hold up grants, he said.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions yet,” Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said last Thursday upon hearing the department directors’ updates.
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