Agency preps for $79 million in cuts

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 19, 2009 - Page: 6A

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The state social services agency is preparing for nearly $79 million in cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, resulting in a budget reduction of about 10 percent from the current year.

But state Department of Social Services Secretary Kristy Nichols said the agency could receive about $55 million from the federal economic “stimulus” package. Less than 10 percent of the anticipated money is included its proposed budget.

“Some of the stimulus funds that we knew how to use we went ahead and rolled into the executive budget,” Nichols said. “Some that were not clear to us, or other adjustments that need to be made to mitigate cuts, could be made throughout the budget process and the legislative process.”

For example, states that saw increases in their welfare rolls are eligible for about $1.2 million in federal stimulus money. DSS did not include that money in its budget.

“We have not seen similar upticks in our (welfare) rolls as other states have,” Nichols said.

DSS will lose about $40 million in state general funds, and $18.3 million in federal funds, some of which were non-recurring block grant dollars from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Nichols said. The agency’s current budget is $1.12 billion.

The agency will also lose 122 employees, Nichols said, adding that the workforce losses are expected to come from attrition.

In at least two areas, federal stimulus dollars will help lessen cuts budgeted.

Within the department’s Louisiana Rehabilitation Services, which provides job training and other services to people with disabilities, Nichols said $1.37 million of the federal injection will go for workforce assistance, which faces a reduction of about $2.3 million. Another $345,000 will go to independent living programs, which will be reduced by $640,000.

More than $2 million in expected cuts to family resource centers and contracts for behavioral health services in the department’s Office of Community Services could also be patched with a $30.9 million Social Service Block Grant funds from hurricanes Gustav and Ike this year, Nichols said.

It is the agency’s priority to limit cuts on client services, particularly child welfare programs and food stamp operations, she said.

Nichols said DSS is working with other state agencies to maximize their federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, funding, commonly referred to as welfare.

Louisiana is required to put up a $55 million match to receive TANF funds from the federal level. That match can come from state general funds or eligible costs in other departments, such as the LA 4 early childhood education program within the Department of Education.