CLEARFIELD – Human Services Development Funding was slashed by more than 50 percent to Clearfield County in the state’s final budget and has resulted in discussions of budget revisions for the programs affected for the upcoming year.
At Tuesday’s commissioner’s meeting, Stacy LoCastro, deputy director of Central PA Community Action Inc., said over recent years, the HSDF has experienced declines and this year, they thought it’d be eliminated completely, before it returned to the state’s budget paperwork.
According to her, they received around $209,000 in 2005-06, but it declined to approximately $156,000 in 2009-10. Last year, they were allocated $143,416 to be shared by programs, such as adult services, children and youth services, drug and alcohol services and mental health services, etc.
“And, we took a huge cut this year of 53.5 percent,” LoCastro said. She said the HSDF would need to be reallocated for the upcoming 2011-12 year with only approximately $91,120 to distribute among programs.
Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen said the county would absorb that previously allocated to Children, Youth and Family Services. She also said that the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging Inc. would allow its funding to be reallocated to other program areas.
Commissioners Mark B. McCracken and John A. Sobel met with LoCastro last week and held preliminary discussions about how funding could be reallocated to the providers running the programs.
LoCastro said they were eliminating funding allocated to programs with a small base of clients, which would save approximately $16,000, and switching these clients into other programs so they’d continued to receive services.
She wasn’t sure how to proceed with its homemaker services that currently serves two clients, as another program doesn’t meet comparable needs. The program offers non-medical personal care, such as housekeeping and home management tasks.
McCracken said they had initially discussed eliminating funding to case management for the drug and alcohol services and only allocating to the outpatient segment of the program.
Sobel indicated he’d spoken to Susan Ford, executive director of the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug and Alcohol Commission, whom advised case management was crucial to their services. She was concerned because case management preceded treatment, and it would become difficult if funding was eliminated.
Because of their feedback from one of the program’s leaders, the commissioners decided to continue funding the case management of the drug and alcohol services.
“Gov. Tom Corbett originally proposed cutting the Human Services Development Fund completely,” McCracken said. “I think it’s being phased out and will probably be eliminated and if not next year, the following year. We need to make the agencies aware.”
The commissioners didn’t take any action about the reallocation of funds. McCracken suggested the board review finalized figures and vote at its next regular meeting in two weeks.
Sobel said the commissioners welcomed feedback from any of the agencies that have programs to be affected by the funding reallocations.