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Local News

Friday, November 07, 2008

State budget cuts hit county agency
By MARY KATE MALONE

Staff Writer

Hancock County Job and Family Services will tighten eligibility for an emergency assistance program, and eliminate a housekeeping service for seniors as it tries to manage higher-than-expected budget cuts from the state.

Seven of the agency's programs lost between 4 and 11 percent of their funding. Most of the reductions affect administrative costs, not assistance or benefits.

The cuts stem from Gov. Ted Strickland's request that most state agencies reduce their budgets by 4.75 percent. The state is facing a budget deficit of $540 million.

Many county agencies statewide have responded by cutting staff, but not Hancock County.

The county's Job and Family Services director, Judy Wauford, has pledged to keep her staff at least through the end of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

“We cannot lay people off,” Wauford said, “because that's where the devastation happens.”

Reducing staff can affect a needy family's access to assistance, Wauford said, because workers become overloaded with paperwork. Eligible families then might have to wait two months to receive services because of the backlog, Wauford said.

Instead, the agency has narrowed eligibility for its Prevention, Retention and Contingency program, which provides short-term assistance to obtain or retain employment. The program can also provide financial help to families facing eviction or loss of utilities or other emergencies that could impact employment.

Now, only those living at or below 130 percent of the poverty level will be eligible. Previously, it was offered to those living at 150 percent or below.

The new eligibility standard is the same as the existing standard for food stamps, Wauford said.

Also, Homemaker Aid, which provides free housekeeping for about 60 seniors, will be eliminated Nov. 30, saving the agency between $30,000 and $40,000, Wauford said.

The homemaker and emergency assistance programs were two of the few whose benefit funding was reduced by the state, Wauford said.

Wauford said she “can make no promises” about staff cuts after June 30.

The agency has been bracing for funding reductions for some time, Wauford said. She has curtailed overtime and not replaced staff members who have left.

The agency has 12 staff vacancies, Wauford said.

Looking to trim costs in other areas, the agency is working to reduce the amount of time children are in its care, which will save money and help the child, she said.

In 10 years, the agency has seen a 100 percent increase in the number of children in foster care. And unfortunately, Wauford said, the state does not increase funding based on the number of children being served.

The agency receives most of its money from the state and federal governments, which will total about $5 million for the 2009 fiscal year, Wauford said. Hancock County is required to match what the state provides for certain programs.

Also, Job and Family Services received about $600,000 from Hancock County in 2008. As the state has reduced its funding for certain programs, the county has had to make up the difference, said Hancock County Commissioner Ed Ingold.

Forty-two counties in Ohio have levies to support children's services, Wauford said, but Hancock County is not one of them. Ingold said a levy might be necessary in the future if Job and Family Services' costs continue to climb.

Hancock County's agency has 81 employees, and each year serves between 23,000 and 24,000 people, or about one-third of the county's population, Wauford said.

It provides children's services, administers public assistance and Medicaid, and provides job training.

Malone: 419-427-8417,

Send an e-mail to Mary Kate Malone
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