State budget cuts hit Del Norte on several fronts

A billion dollars in state budget cuts will take a bite out of social services in the next two months.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown announced a list of “triggers” meant to compensate for a $2.2 billion shortfall in projected state revenue. As a result, Del Norters can expect substantial reductions to subsidized in-home support services, child-care and library programs.

In-home services

Some 210 Del Norters are facing a 20 percent reduction in their in-home supportive service (IHSS) hours as part of a statewide slash to save $101.5 million in the coming year.

Local IHSS clients currently receive an average of 20 hours in assistance per week from an individually selected caretaker, often a friend or family member who earns $9.60 an hour through the program, which is open to low-income, disabled and/or elderly people.

Under the amended budget, most clients would average four fewer hours of service each week, according to Gary Blatnick, director of Health and Human Services.

“I think it has the potential to negatively affect some individuals and even perhaps to cause them to be more seriously at risk for ending up in an institution. That’s a real concern that we all have,” said Blatnick.

A coalition of IHSS providers, advocates and clients are currently appealing the trigger cut in federal court and a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19. Until then a temporary restraining order prevents any reduction in services.

“Once we get the court decision then we know we can go forward,” Blatnick told the Triplicate on Tuesday. “Computer systems are already being reprogrammed to reduce the number of hours per recipient. Recipients are receiving notification as we speak.”

The state cuts also eliminate funding for anti-fraud investigations within the Department of Health and Human Services, which could save an estimated $10 million across the state.

The kids are not alright

The Del Norte County Child Care Council (DNCCC), which provides child care services through the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, already experienced a 25 percent reduction in state funding this year, executive director Christin McCollum said at Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting.

Shortly after the meeting adjourned, the Governor’s Office announced the elimination of an additional $23 million in funding, or approximately 7,500 child-care slots.

A county contract with DNCCC was pulled from the consent agenda after McCollum expressed concerns about a 10 percent reduction in what the county pays for the non-profit group’s administrative costs.

Blatnick reported Wednesday that he and McCollum have since come to an alternative contract agreement, likely to appear on the next meeting agenda in January.

Literally broke

The triggers wipe out grants to local libraries, saving the state $16 million.

The cost in Del Norte might be the free inter-library loan system, which is currently funded through an annual $10,000 allotment and allows patrons to access materials from far-off collections.

“Right now our inter-library loan is completely paid for by the state, so we don’t know if we’ll have to start charging the patrons,” said library director Linda Kaufmann.

The county’s literacy program, Del Norte Reads, has a rocky road ahead and may struggle to make rent next month without additional funding or an alternative space.

The state allocated $33,000 to the program in 2010–2011, comprising 41 percent of the total budget.

Director and sole paid employee Kelley Nolan said she was aware that funding would likely be reduced, but had still hoped for $16,000 in support for the first half of 2012, now an impossibility.

“It’s going to completely impact what happens to the literacy program,” Nolan said. “We have a lease that expires at the end of this month. We are not going to have the funds to release. That’s almost $7,000. We have too big of a program to move back in the library now.”

Currently Del Norte Reads has about 30 volunteers helping 83 people with literacy issues.

Some cuts expected

All this isn’t catching the county’s service providers completely off guard, according to county Administrator Officer Jay Sarina. 

“They’ve already built in some of these potential cuts,” Sarina said. “They will just continue to work with advocate groups to evaluate how it’s going to affect their allocations specifically,” he said.

Other triggers sweeping the state include $100 million in as yet undefined cuts to the Department of Developmental Services; a $300 million reduction in funding for the University of California, California State and California Community Colleges; a $14.6 million reduction in grants for vertical prosecution, which allows district attorneys to remain involved as cases work through the judicial system; a $20 million scaling back in the Department of Corrections, (but not at Pelican Bay State Prison); an $8.6 million downsizing of Medi-Cal copays; a charge of $125,000 to any county that sends a juvenile offender into state facilities; and the elimination of state-financed school busing, expected to save $248 million.

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