PENNSYLVANIA Social-services agencies reduce scope to weather budget cuts

Some programs have been eliminated during the financial shortfall.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Social-services officials across Pennsylvania have a wide range of stories about how state budget cuts are hurting their communities, from recovering addicts who will no longer receive counseling in basic life skills to disabled adults who will go without home-delivered meals.
Fifteen officials came to Harrisburg on Wednesday to share their stories with reporters and vent their frustration over an education-funding stalemate between Gov. Ed Rendell and legislative leaders that they believe is hindering efforts to restore roughly $150 million in program reductions.
"They're creating sacrificial lambs of the people who have the least means, and there are plenty of funds to restore those cuts," said Michael A. Printz, executive director of Community Human Services Corp. in Pittsburgh.
The cuts, made by the governor and approved by lawmakers, took effect under a budget that preserved most basic government services without increasing taxes.
Since then, the governor and legislative leaders have been wrangling over how much money to spend on new education programs that Rendell says are needed to meet federal mandates for improving standardized test scores.
What's unclear
Rendell has said he wants to restore at least some of the cuts using part of a $900 million federal windfall that was part of a financial bailout package Congress approved for cash-strapped states in May.
But it remained unclear how much progress the two sides have made toward negotiating a restoration plan.
"Gov. Rendell wants the Legislature to take a look at all the pieces of a complete state budget, and included in that are budget restorations," said his spokeswoman, Kate Philips.
In the meantime, agencies are trying to maintain as many services as they can, in some cases taking advantage of a patchwork of short-term funding available from the state and counties.
The state Department of Public Welfare has provided $2 million to $2.5 million in total statewide funding to social service agencies since the current fiscal year began July 1 and expects to continue doing so at least through the end of this month, spokeswoman Stacey Ward said.
Kim Bowman, administrator for Chester County's drug and alcohol treatment programs, said a mix of month-to-month state welfare aid, county funding and state Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Prevention money that would have been spent on special programs has helped finance the county's services.
If no state funding restorations are forthcoming, however, the county will need to suspend admissions to residential treatment programs within the next month or two, she said.
Some cuts
Bowman said her agency has already terminated a program that helps addicts learn life skills such as managing a household budget.
"We've tried to hold off the crisis that we know is coming, but the cracks are already there. None of these cuts are painless," she said.
Dennis Gourley, executive director of Family Services Association of the Wyoming Valley in Luzerne County, said state aid accounted for about one-third of $126,000 in funding for his agency's 24-hour "help line" information referral service. He has reduced staffing from eight to four people to keep the telephone line running.
XOn the Net: Department of Public Welfare:http://www.dpw.state.pa.us