The Garden City Telegram
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Agencies left to deal with less
Published 12/3/2009 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
A newly balanced budget at the state level is disrupting area agencies that are bracing for serious cuts officials say will negatively impact much-needed health and social services in the area.
Several area service agencies that rely on Medicaid funds to support salaries of health care attendants and provide related services are anticipating making reductions in the wake of a 10-percent Medicaid provider cut through the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, a part of Gov. Mark Parkinson's budget-balancing measures last week to shave nearly $260 million from the state budget.
As the economic situation across the nation has worsened over the last few years, Area Mental Health has seen more and more individuals seeking crisis help and more and more who don't have the ability to pay, said Ric Dalke, its director.
Dalke said the Medicaid cuts to take effect in 2010 translate to roughly half a million dollar shortfall for the agency, which provides supportive services for 13 area southwest Kansas counties, including Finney County, and is operated on about a $10 million annual budget.
"We only have so many people we can pay salaries to, and as our numbers go up, we're being asked to do more with less," he said. "And yet we still have a real need to do what we do, to help individuals and keep our communities safe."
Dalke said though he and his staff are working on ways to absorb the funding reductions, he believes at least two changes will take place with certainty: People without medical insurance will be expected to pay more of their costs, and the agency will have to focus more on crisis responses.
At the Center for Independent Living Southwest Kansas, a large amount of its annual $6 million budget that provides salaries for staff who provide life skills, training and other referral and advocacy services to people with developmental or physical disabilities, comes directly from Medicaid funds, said Troy Horton, who has been the center's executive director since 1997.
Horton said while he and his agency have been anticipating the fiscal year's budget reductions for several months, the reductions come at an especially bad time: The agency has a long waiting list of hopeful clients to make use of the agencies' services.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding cuts to take affect at the beginning of 2010 may mean a reduction in staff, their hours, and ultimately the services the agency provides, Horton said.
"We can't absorb such a big cut. There are definitely things we're going to have to change," Horton said. "The best thing we can do is have people talk to their (state) legislators to increase revenue. We need to protect these programs."
Much of the Medicaid funding Mosaic, a faith-based organization serving people with developmental disabilities in Garden City, receives from the state also contributes to staff salaries, said Director Debbie Reynolds.
Reynolds said a 10-percent Medicaid reduction translates to a $40,000 to $45,000 funding decrease on average a month for Mosaic.
Reynolds, who said her agency will try to avoid laying workers off, said the reductions could translate to fewer staffing hours, though no decisions have been made yet. Usually about two or three staff members occupy a group home of about six, but Reynolds said those numbers will have to be reduced.
"If someone needs to go to the grocery store or out to eat and only one staff member is working (in the home), there may not be much choice for our clients," she said. "This is really going to impact the quality of life for the people we support."
Earlier this summer, the local agency -- which serves about 125 clients and their families in Garden City, one of five locations in Kansas and one of 40 in the country -- also saw a $20,000 reduction in funding from Finney County from last year.
Also included in the governor's reductions is a $50 million cut to the state's highway maintenance funds, which includes a $15 million cut to the Kansas Department of Transportation's operating budget, said Calvin Carter, a public affairs manager for the agency's southwest district.
As a result, the district has lost two overlay projects on state and U.S. highways in Ness County and will be doing a lot fewer maintenance jobs in the area, Carter said.
"In the end, it's going to cost us more money because we'll end up having to fix the roads, instead of maintaining them," he said.
Cutting KDOT projects will impact jobs of both contractors and suppliers and eliminate spin-off spending that happens in communities during construction, according to KDOT officials.
Kansas state policy-makers have cited historic drops in state revenue for making reductions for the state budget year, which ends June 30, 2010.
"We can't make it through this recession by cutting ourselves into an incurable position," Parkinson said in a release last week. "When the Legislature returns in January, together we must look towards building a solution for the years ahead or we will permanently damage the foundation of our state."
To view a complete list of the state agencies and departments affected and their expenditure changes for this fiscal year, visit www.gctelegram.com.
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