Area agencies brace for budget cuts

By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, January 4, 2009 12:00 AM PST

Officials at Lifeways Inc., which provides mental health services in Malheur County, wait to see what state funding may be pulled or reduced as the state tries to balance its budget.

ONTARIO — Local social service agencies are hoping for the best and bracing for the worst, as they wait for legislative action in Oregon on state agency budgets that fund local social service programs, from mental health to local health and senior services.

Even before the Legislature meets, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has asked state agencies to start making cuts in their spending, and he indicated in his budget proposal issued in December, he would protect education, K through 12 and higher education, and give priority to children’s care, transportation and energy.

According to a Department of Human Services report on the governor’s proposed budget, funding could fall 16.6 percent below the amount needed to maintain existing service levels at a time when demand for services is growing.

The budget proposal was a reflection of the downturn in the economy, the analysis said.

For local services, Penny Walters, Malheur County Health Department director, said state offices try to absorb the cuts before they start passing funds down to the local agencies.

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“They try to take it at the state level,” she said.

The governor proposes a reduction in resources to county health departments for HIV/sexually transmitted diseases/tuberculosis programs.

 Some of the communicable disease programs already receive very minimal funds from the state, Walters said.

“A lot of them are already county supported,” she said.

Greg Schneider, executive director of Lifeways Inc., which provides mental health services in Malheur County, said his agency will not know what may be cut until the spring.

For now, everything remains the same with the help of a legislative committee, as the Emergency Board reversed the governor’s order to make budget cuts for mental health services, Schneider said.

The Emergency Board handles budget matters when the Oregon Legislature is not in session.

“They (state mental health officials) are rebuilding the state hospital system,” Schneider said.

With one state mental hospital under construction and a second one still in the planning stage, funding could be pulled away from local programs.

 “They have got to pull that money from somewhere,” he said.

Schneider’s concern is cuts will be made in the Medicaid funding, which provides for 75 percent of the Lifeways budget and pays for indigent and crisis care.

He believes there is a responsibility to provide care for those people who would have no place else to go for help if Medicaid was cut, Schneider said.

Loni Debban, executive director of the Malheur Council on Aging and Community Services, said officials are examining budget cuts at the state office on aging.

“It could mean fewer seniors will get services,” she said.