The Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities has found ways to control costs during tough

The Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities has found ways to control costs during tough economic times and achieve a sizable annual carry-over in the process. Here are some measures the board took to cut costs. The largest cost categories are employee wages and health insurance, workers’ compensation and Medicaid waiver matching funds.

Reduced the number of employees from 304 in 2005 to 253 this year through layoffs, attrition and job restructuring.

Increased the length of the employee work days from seven to eight hours a day with one hour for lunch, creating 7,800 additional work hours per year.

Negotiated employee co-payments on health- insurance premiums and a cap on the employer’s share of the premium.

Created wellness-program initiatives.

Shopped for health- insurance provider resulting in no rate increases the last three years.

Outsourced information technology to the county’s IT staff, which is free; saved $90,000 in 2009.

Centralized purchasing.

Brought Medicaid waiver-program administration back in-house; saved $125,000 a year.

Dropped many telephone lines; saved $24,000 a year.

Got as many Medicaid- eligible clients as possible onto waiver programs, which reduces cost from local and state revenue from 100 percent to about 28 percent. For nonwaiver clients, the local board absorbs 100 percent of the cost.

Source: Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities