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Budget cuts hit OTC Human Services Department
Published 7:25am Wednesday, May 26, 2010Now that the Minnesota legislature has made their budgetary decisions, the trickle down effect of the cuts and postponements are becoming clear to counties and communities around the state. On Tuesday, John Dinsmore, the human services director for Otter Tail County, provided the Otter Tail County Human Services Board with a report on how much money the Human Services Department lost and how the department will try to make things up.
All told, the department lost money is three key areas that totaled about $660,000. The first loss is reduced funding from the Children’s and Community Services Act grants, a loss to the department of approximately $200,000. This money, according to Dinsmore, was used for “social service programs that serve children and families,” including things like child protection services and mental health case management.
The second loss is from mental health grants, which were primarily used for adult mental health care (often purchased from Lakeland Mental Health Center or the St. Williams Annex in Parkers Prairie) or for adult mental health case management. The money the department received from these grants totaled about $260,000.
The final big loss for the department came from the cuts to its share of Otter Tail County’s County Program Aid. This money, in addition to levies collected by the county, is used by the department for general expenses within the department, purchasing social services and overseeing other departmental responsibilities, like foster care. The money the department lost from County Program Aid totals about $200,000.
To make up the deficit, Dinsmore said the department, as well as other budget-strapped county departments, must take careful stock of their services and come up with ways to save money. Essentially, he explained, the question becomes, “How do we become more cost efficient and cost effective without having to reduce services too much?”
Some steps are already being taken. “The biggest thing that the county has done … is the hiring freeze,” Dinsmore explained. “Since the hiring freeze has gone into effect, our department has seen a reduction of 10 people.”
In the future, Dinsmore said the department will be looking at other options, including working with other counties to share services. “The other big piece,” he added, “is that we have asked all of our providers that we contract with to send us their preliminary budgets.” If the amount of money a contractor expects to charge the Human Services Department for its service is deemed to be too costly for the department’s budget concerns, that service will be scaled back or cut.
The department and the people who rely on it are already feeling the pressure. The reduced staff of the department has forced those who work for it to shuffle their duties and take on more responsibility, resulting in longer waiting periods for some services like health care benefits and food support for low income constituents. The funding cuts have also forced the department to create a waiting list for low income families seeking help in paying for child care.
The department has also cut the Energy Assistance Program, a service in which low income constituents could apply for help in paying their energy bills in the winter months. Fortunately, the Community Action Program out of New York Mills has taken charge of the program.
Though the budget is slimmer, Dinsmore said that goal of his department has not changed. “Our primary mission has always been to serve low income people and people who are disabled or vulnerable,” he said. “We’ll still be doing that, but we’ll be doing it with fewer people and resources.”
