Press Release                                Contact:   Brenda Benson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                     Margaret Compton

February 25, 2005                                        (740) 353-0636

                                   

 

Scioto MR/DD Board Preparing to Cut Services

 

            This week, staff members of the Scioto County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities began signing agreements stating they volunteered to reduce their workweek by 5-hours.  This means cuts in services for the 439 people they serve, as well as a pay cut for the employees.  By 8:00 AM Friday, all 78 employees who were asked had agreed to take the 5-hour reduction.

            The MR/DD Board, which is struggling with funding shortfalls, authorized this step toward agency-wide service reductions at their meeting on February 16. The Board plans to reduce its biggest expense – salaries – by cutting work hours.  This means a shortened day at The Carousel Preschool for children ages 3 to 5, the Vern Riffe School for students ages 5 to 21 and STAR Workshop for adults, and less contact hours in other services. The changes are scheduled to begin March 21.

            The Board is attempting to avoid the most drastic option:  closing a program. The most likely program to be closed would be the Vern Riffe School, and perhaps The Carousel Preschool also, because MR/DD boards in Ohio are not required to offer those services.  That responsibility falls to local school districts.

The reduction in service hours is the most recent in a series of cost cutting measures made necessary by voters rejecting the program’s request to update the value its four local property tax levies – levies dating from 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1989 – in the November 2004 election.  The additional tax support was needed to offset a series of losses in state and federal funding in the past few years.  More cuts were announced recently, making the Board’s budget picture even worse. At the February meeting, the Board was told that the program would end 2005 with a $273,000 deficit if drastic measures were not taken before the end of March.

            There are 439 children and adults currently being helped by the Board through the services such as the early childhood intervention program, The Carousel Preschool, the Vern Riffe School, day programming for adults, supported living, community employment, and service coordination.  More than 900 families of children with infants are served through the Board’s early childhood intervention program, locally known as REACH.  REACH employees, except their director, were not part of the salary and service reduction because funding comes from grants and other non-local sources.  Bus drivers were also excluded because the time it takes to perform their jobs could not be reduced.

            The ten directors and managers of the program lead by example, taking the voluntary five-hour per week reduction in their own contracts at the special board meeting held February 2. This change amounts to a 12.5 percent pay cut for the 40-hour per week employee and workweek reduced to 35 hours, even though the administrators will not be able to realize a reduced work schedule due to the nature of their job responsibilities and the volume of their work. This is true of many of the staff, even those who already work less than 40 hours per week.  Some, like teachers at the school and preschool are currently paid for 35-hours per week.

When the voters rejected the Board’s request to update the value of their current tax levies in the November 2, 2004 election, the Board was already facing a $1 million deficit going into 2005.  To solve that problem, the Board approved a number of measures at the November 23, 2004 special board meeting. These measures included abolishing 26 positions and laying off 13 employees.  Thirteen of the abolished positions were already vacant through attrition, and left unfilled from as early as 2003 to save costs in the face of funding decreases. One position, that of an early childhood intervention specialist, was restored at the December 2004 board meeting.  Funding for this position has been secured for one year from the Scioto County Department of Jobs and Family Services.  This employee is designated to serve eligible babies whose families qualify for the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program.

            Services have already been reduced as a result of the November 23 action when the licensed counselor, a registered nurse, a speech therapist, two teacher’s assistants, and three service coordinators were among those whose positions were cut.   Administration was sliced when three employees from the business office and a project coordinator were included in the layoffs. The school supervisor and occupational therapy assistant requested their contracts be shortened by two and three months respectively.  Transportation during the program day was scaled back and services to improve the quality of life for individuals in nursing homes, supported living, and in adult services are still in the process of being reduced or eliminated so that services ensuring health and safety can be maintained.  All school districts in Scioto County have children served by the MR/DD board.  They were approached to help pay the cost of transporting their students to Vern Riffe School and The Carousel Preschool. The districts have been very cooperative and have agreed to help the MR/DD Board on this issue.

            Scioto MR/DD employees absorbed additional cuts when the educational reimbursement fund was eliminated, as was the already limited out-of town meal reimbursement benefit.  All employees on the Board’s medical insurance plan are now charged an additional $50.00 per month on top of their existing premium.  This amount is expected to rise again in March when the Board will pass along another cost increase to employees, about the same time the salary reductions will go into effect.

            While all of these measures and the reduction of administrators’ salaries addressed the original budget shortfall, they were not enough to offset additional cuts were not anticipated in November 2004. The projected budget deficit of $273,000 shown to board members at the February 16 meeting remains because the state government has since announced the end of the Community Alterative Funding System (CAFS) by June 30, 2005, and state sources have predicted a drastic reduction, if not complete elimination, of the operating subsidy from the Ohio Department of MR/DD this year.  CAFS funding accounted for $894,000 in revenue for the Board in calendar year 2004.  The operating subsidy brought in over $208,000.

            The Board intends to go back to the voters in 2005, seeking additional local taxes.  A win in November will help maintain services at these reduced levels, but the Board will not speculate on when or if services can be restored.  The 5-hour per week cost cut will only barely allow the Board to finish 2005 without a deficit if all of the worst predictions prove true.  Only the arrival of unanticipated funds will allow the Board to keep operating until new tax levy revenues can be forwarded in March 2006.

A poll was taken of employees on Monday, February 14.  The overwhelming majority of employees indicated that they would be willing to reduce their hours.  “Of course, this is all regrettable,” said Brenda Benson, Interim Executive Director of the Scioto County Board of MR/DD, “but I am so proud of the staff and administrators. They understand that this is the only option we have left, short of closing programs.  The staff knows how much our consumers, the babies, the children and the adults we serve, count on this program being here.  They want the agency and its programs to survive.”  Mrs. Benson is leading the program until a new superintendent can be found.  Former superintendent John Oakley retired January 31 after more than 20 years in that position.

            While all the details of the service cut backs have not been finalized, a slightly shorter school day is planned for Vern Riffe School, which is required to have classes five days a week.  The school year would not need to be extended further into June.  The Carousel Preschool already has a four-day week for students, but the preschool day will also be shortened.  Contact hours will also be curtailed for the adult programs that operate out of the STAR Workshop building.  Cutting a full day off the workweek for service coordinators and administration has been proposed.

“We want to give families time to plan and adjust before the new schedules begin,” said Benson, “but every week we delay costs us thousands of dollars.”

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