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LANCASTER --
The Fairfield County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services
Board is preparing make more cuts.
The ADAMH
Board also is planning to request permission from the Fairfield County
Commissioners to place a 1-mill levy on the November ballot.
On Tuesday,
Orman Hall, executive director of the ADAMH board, told executive board
members that the agency's budget must be reduced by $411,585. This
reduction must be made to balance the agency's budget in fiscal year 2005,
which begins July 1.
"That will
bring our total cuts in non-Medicaid services up to the $1 million level
in the past three years," Hall said.
With ongoing
reductions, the county's board is facing a crisis and may not be able to
offer services to people who don't receive Medicaid, Hall said.
"It's
trending in that direction, and the working poor won't have access to the
services in our county," he said.
The ADAMH
board is required to pay a share of Medicaid services, so non-Medicaid
services are the programs that get cut.
During the
current fiscal year, the Board has made $600,000 in reductions.
The board has
six contracting agencies: New Horizons, The Recovery Center, Fairfield
Medical Center, The Lighthouse, Mid-Ohio Psychological Services and the
Fairfield Mental Health Consumer Group.
The
individual allocations and reductions to contracting agencies have yet to
be determined.
The
Lighthouse, a local shelter for victims of domestic violence, can't stand
any additional reductions, said Susan Pelletier-Walker, executive director
of the agency.
Approximately
350 people could be affected if services aren't funded, Pelletier-Walker
said.
The ADAMH
Board has no other choice but to place a levy on November's ballot, said
Ed Banville, chairman of the board's executive committee.
During the
meeting, the Board voted unanimously to go for a 1-mill levy, which would
generate $2.6 million annually. The next step will be for Hall to petition
the county commissioners so that the issue can be placed on the ballot.
The board's
last levy attempt, in 2002, failed with 39 percent of voters for the levy
and 61 percent of voters against the levy.
"I don't know
how we get from 39 percent to 50.1 percent." Hall said. "But I suspect
some people will be concerned when they find out that they may not get
services if they don't have a Medicaid card."
"Traditionally the largest numbers we've served is the working poor, those
who have no insurance," he said. "This is the primary reason we want to go
on the ballot -- to restore services to the working poor in our
community."
Tony Motta,
executive director of New Horizons, said he is thrilled the ADAMH Board is
revisiting the levy issue.
"I think we
have to tell our story to the general public," Motta said. "It's the story
of children and adults who are feeling suicidal at times, children who are
struggling at schools because of mental health problems -- theirs or their
parents. It's the story of adults who have anxiety or depression that
affects their ability to do their jobs. Those are the things we see at New
Horizons every day."
Originally
published Wednesday, April 28, 2004 |