At the Wednesday, February 17, Lancaster County commissioners meeting, human services lead James Laughman presented the board with a new round of state level cuts for various human service programs run by the County. The new cuts, totaling $101,240, arrived on the heels of last month’s budget reduction of $100,000. Both reductions amount to a 26% cut for the current fiscal year, according to Laughman.
Specifically, these cuts impact state-distributed Human Services Development Funding. The now-$634,048 allocation serves as a budget supplement to provide funding for a number of typically unmandated preventative services, including homeless case management, early intervention programs, and bi-lingual mental health counseling.
Laughman described the HSDF dollars as “the safety net of safety nets.”
Among some of the cuts made were a $24,300 reduction for case management services by the Community Action Program, a $11,911 reduction for drug and alcohol-related student intervention services through Compass Mark, and a cumulative $55,428 reduction for various mental health programs.
The cuts were imposed by the Governor’s office in response to monthly revenue shortfalls as high as $100 million. Unfortunately, Laughman noted, with a sluggish economy yielding further shortfalls, this may not be last round of cuts for the current fiscal year—and there will almost certainly be more cuts for 2010-2011.
“Rumors are that this [reduced allocation of $634,860] is the starting base” for the next budget, Laughman said, “We think this, obviously, is going to mean a lot of danger next year, so we’ll have a lot of difficult decisions to make, unfortunately.”
Lehman opposes Detective Association contract provision
Also at the Wednesday meeting, the commissioners voted 2-1 to allow each employee of the Lancaster County Detectives Association $400 in potential reimbursement for personal items damaged by work-related wear-and-tear. Commissioner Craig Lehman represented the sole dissenting vote.
County labor counsel Mike Miller described the provision as an appropriate response to the association accepting a 0% pay increase from the County in 2010. Commissioner Dennis Stuckey agreed: “I think, in any relationship, you have to have give and take. That’s the nature of our business, and I think it’s a reasonable request.”
Lehman simply noted that he was “uncomfortable with setting that precedent,” having asserted at last week’s work session that “the fact that you can now go out and get $400 worth of new clothing and equipment for normal wear-and-tear, this is a new area for this agreement and, I believe, a new area for the county, and that’s what I have trouble with.”
