[NFBMT] Problems in State Government

[d m gina]

Hello,
With what I just read I am seeing that in a few years we will not have 
the services, and then if this happens can the Colorado center come up 
and help us get started in starting a nfb program in Montana.
Or are we to small of a membership state to be able to do anything like this?
Are there enough persons who are with college degrees that could pull it off?
Just some thoughts.
Thanks for sharing?

Original message:
> FYI



> Montana health department calls staffing levels ‘unsustainable’ with 420
> jobs left open after budget cuts  406 Politics  hele



> Montana health department calls staffing levels ‘unsustainable’ with 420
> jobs

> left open after budget cuts



>   HOLLY K. MICHELS holly.michels at lee.net

















>   Holly Michels





>     Jul 23, 2018

> People line up in September 2017 to testify before the Children, Families,

> Health and Human Services interim committee in opposition to plans by the
> state

> health department to lower its budget.

> Thom Bridge, thom.bridge at helenair.com



> The state health department has nearly 420 positions held open because of
> budget

> cuts, up nearly 90 from last October, and is at a level department leaders
> call

> “unsustainable.”





> Budget cuts hit the Department of Public Health and Human Services at
> several

> points during the past two years, first during the 2017 legislative session,


> then during that summer from a bill passed during the session that called
> for

> reductions if revenues came in lower than expected. Still more cuts were
> imposed

> during a special session called when revenues looked like they’d be so low
> the

> state wouldn’t be able to pay its bills.





> The cuts have come through a combination of loss of state funds and federal

> matching funds, as well as lowering Medicaid rates that reimburse providers
> for

> services. Some cuts made during the special session could be reduced if
> revenues

> come in high enough, an amount that will be certified late this summer.













> Last week, department Director Sheila Hogan said the cuts’ effects on

> organizations around Montana have received a lot of attention. For example,

> Helena Industries, a nonprofit that provided job opportunities and case

> management to people with disabilities, closed amid rate cuts.





> But she said the lack of sufficient employees to perform basic department

> functions will catch up to the state at some point. Hogan pointed to a unit
> that

> works to collect child support payments as another example. It’s down 19

> positions.





> “Getting that support to families is extremely important,” Hogan said. The
> unit

> has done “really well, but again I don't know how long it’s sustainable.”





> Operations Services Branch Manager Erica Johnston said she’s seen other work
> by

> the agency reduced to the point she’s worried about the safety of vulnerable


> Montanans.





> Johnston said the department is doing less certification and oversight work

> because of a lack of employees. The department does four tiers of
> certification

> and oversight for nursing homes and state-run facilities, but only the first
> two

> tiers are tied directly to funding. Because of that, the other two levels
> are

> going unchecked.





> “In times like this, we have to let the last two tiers, which are important

> survey and oversight work in terms of the safety of our citizens, we have to
> let

> that slide,” Johnston said. “It weighs heavily on the people that do that
> work.

> If you let the other tiers go for long periods of time, there’s a risk,
> there’s

> always a risk it could develop into something that’s just not sustainable.”





> Hogan said when she started at the department in January 2017, at the
> beginning

> of the regular legislative session, she knew there were going to be budget

> issues, and started to rein in hiring. She approved every hire, weighing
> whether

> positions were funded with state or federal money, and how critical they
> were.

> Out-of-state travel was canceled and even in-state training and travel was

> scrutinized. Branch managers had to approve any expenses over $500.





> Because 24/7 facilities, with the exception of Montana Developmental Center
> in

> Boulder, were exempt from the hiring freeze, that meant cuts hit harder at
> the

> management level. “My goal was the boots-on-the-ground group, we left those

> folks alone,” Hogan said.





> Still, the shrunken agency has lost enough of those on-the-ground positions
> that

> people who get services are struggling with the reductions, and department
> staff

> won't be able to keep up with their workloads. In Helena, for example, a

> vocational rehab officer has 132 open cases and covers a territory from
> Townsend

> to Augusta.











> Even with the effort to target higher-level employees, there have been 22
> office

> closures, 19 of them Offices of Public Assistance.





> “My goal was that we’re able to provide services and not staff 
 although
> staff

> often provide services,” Hogan said.





> Johnston said branch managers tried to see how they could reduce at the top
> and

> be able to fill front-line positions. The effort was to share workloads, so
> as

> to be able to reduce supervisor positions.





> “We just run really lean as an agency from an operations perspective,”
> Johnston

> said. “I really see the work of my people, many of which are at levels where


> they don’t make a lot of money. They’re not making $40,000-$50,000 a year
> and

> we’re continuing to ask them to do more, to deliver services to their
> friends

> and family with less, and it’s taxing and it’s wearing on them."













> Later this summer, the state will determine whether revenues have come in
> high

> enough to build back some money to the state budget, including funds that
> would

> be directed toward the health department. Under a bill passed during the
> special

> session, the department could get up to $30.5 million. It had its budget
> reduced

> about $49 million during the special session.





> “If some goes back, we’re going to have a process to ask, we’re going to ask


> people in the field. We’re going to ask families and we’re going to ask
> clients

> and we’re going to ask providers. We’re going to do it as a group,” Hogan
> said.





> Hogan said the specifics aren’t set for when and where the public could
> provide

> feedback. An interim legislative committee that oversees the agency is
> holding

> its own meeting Aug. 6 to take public input on where individuals and
> providers

> would like to see money put back.





> Hogan said as she’s traveled around the state meeting with providers, she's

> tried to explain the department didn't choose to make the cuts itself.





> “A lot of people are angry, providers are angry,” Hogan said. “Sometimes
> it’s

> hard. Oftentimes, I have to offer a civics lesson. I am not an appropriator.
> The

> department, we are not appropriators. The budget is handed to us from the

> Legislature, and we have to work within those sideboards.”





> The department and administration of Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock have said


> Republicans in the Legislature who haven’t been willing to consider new
> revenue

> sources helped create a situation that necessitated budget cuts.





> State Sen. Fred Thomas, a Republican from Stevensville, said Monday the
> governor

> had the option to take a deal that would have extended a contract with a
> private

> prison in Shelby and generated roughly $15 million the governor could have
> used

> to offset cuts. The governor said at the time he didn't support the idea
> because

> of questions about operations at the prison and criminal justice reforms
> meant

> to reduce the number of prisoners statewide.





> “This is why we laid out ways for the governor to come up with the revenue
> to

> mitigate these reductions that were his cuts,” Thomas said.

















> Jim Marks

> Blind.grizzly at gmail.com <mailto:Blind.grizzly at gmail.com>

> (406) 438-1421
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