Local social services being cut

The bewildering array of social services that receive at least some government support in Oregon is composed of two large groups today -- the lucky and the unlucky.

The lucky are the ones that depend primarily on federal, local or private funding. The unlucky are those that depend heavily on the state general fund, the main operating fund of state government.

With the failure of Measure 28, the state general fund is expected to fall about 20 percent short of the revenue expected when the Legislature adopted the 2001-2003 budget. As revenue projections have been revised downward throughout the biennium, the Legislature and government managers have ordered cuts to fit the lower income.

Some of those cuts will be felt in Central Oregon.

A giant administrative operation, the Department of Human Services, runs most of the social service programs in which state government is involved.

Patrick Carey oversees all DHS operations in the three counties of Central Oregon. The department overall has been ordered to take a 20 percent general fund reduction in the current fiscal year.

"But child welfare gets about 25 percent of its support from the general fund whereas senior programs were up to about 60 percent," Carey said. The result is that a 20 percent cut "takes a much bigger bite out of senior programs than the others."

Dennis Conley works under Carey as the manager of services for seniors and the disabled in the tri-county area. He said about 470 of his office's clients have lost eligibility for a variety of services. About half the number had been receiving help with the cost of prescription drugs. The other half need various forms of direct assistance, from grocery shopping to bathing and toileting.

Conley, who is based in Bend, works closely with Carol Bro in Redmond, executive director of the Central Oregon Council on Aging.

Her private, nonprofit agency relies heavily on government funds. It either provides directly or contracts for many of the same kinds of services as Carey's agency. But its clientele is a bit higher on the income scale.

All of Carey's clients are eligible for Medicaid, federal health insurance for low-income citizens. In Oregon, that means they qualify for the Oregon Health Plan. Bro's operation provides such familiar services as Meals on Wheels and Dial-A-Ride. It had been providing in-home care to about 100 clients in the three counties, but has cut 40 off the list because of budget cuts.

Both the DHS and COCOA evaluate their clients' needs on a scale of dependency, with Level 18 being the highest (most independent). Cuts have been made in help for those in Levels 15 through 18 so far. Now, with the failure of Measure 28, cuts will soon be made in help for those in Levels 10 through 14.

The overall strategy, all of the managers explained, is to try to do the least harm to individuals with the greatest need for outside help in basic functions of living.

"I can tell you this is probably the worst year that we have ever seen in aging programs," Bro said. "We have been through lots of recessions but nothing of this magnitude."

Other local impacts include:

• The Deschutes County Commission on Children and Families, which receives 74 percent of its $2.8 million budget from the state, announced 3 percent cuts in its contracted services as a result of the failure of Measure 28.

  These will include a $716 cut in the allocation to the Sisters Community Action Team and a $995 cut in a Sisters block grant.

• Deschutes County Parole and Probation on February 1 reduced its 36 employees to a 36-hour work week, representing a 10 percent pay cut.

  The office will operate with four nine-hour days, closing on Fridays. The CCF (above) expects to go to the same reduced week on March 1. Becky Johnson, director of the probation office, said only 24 of the 1,400 offenders under the supervision of her office live in the Sisters zip code.

• Theresa Slavkovsky, director of the Sisters Family Access Network, said most of the people her office deals with are not affected by Measure 28. They are working people in minimum-wage jobs. But they have their own form of budget cuts: Many who were working 40 hours a week are now working 20 "because there is no snow. The town is empty."