State cuts threaten local nonprofits

By AMY NEFF ROTH

By proposing $120 million in state budget cuts to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the governor has taken a step back from his commitment to protecting New Yorkers with disabilities, advocates said.

The six percent cut proposed in a budget amendment last week would be spread across the board to the 700 nonprofit agencies providing services to help New Yorkers with development disabilities live in the community. A matching federal cut inMedicaid money would bring the total value of the cuts to $240 million.

This decrease, which would go into effect April 1, follows millions of dollars of cuts over the past two years.

“This is truly something that … (is) probably the most devastating and the most threatening to our industry … This just an incredible thing,” said Kevin Crosley, president/CEO of Herkimer ARC, which would lose $1.2 million.

Local agencies aren’t taking the cuts quietly. A group from The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, which would lose $1.5 million, will be heading to Albany next week to make sure local legislators understand the potential impact of the cuts to the community, the local economy and the people and families served by The Arc.

Its website also has a Call to Action button, which, when pressed, explains the issue and asks people to send letters to legislators. And HARC will host a meeting today to explain the fears of its staff and families to state Sen. James Seward, R-Milford.

The governor’s press office did not return a call asking for comment.
The fallout could be widespread economically with layoffs possible or even likely, officials said.

For example, HARC, with nearly 400 employees, is the second largest employer in Herkimer County, which already faces insecurity over the future of its largest employer, Remington Arms.

Many agencies provide support that helps people with developmental disabilities hold jobs — jobs they’d have to give up if support personnel get laid off, officials said. And many families rely on services to take care of their relatives with developmental disabilities so they can go to work.

But the biggest losers, agencies say, would be the people who depend on these agencies. Herkimer resident Jeanne Garia De Paredes said she doesn’t know where she will be if her 38-year-old son didn’t receive services from HARC.

Tomas Garcia De Paredes, who has Down syndrome, works in the mornings at a HARC workshop, which does contract work, and spends his afternoons in a day program, going on outings a few days a week to bowl, play miniature golf or watch a movie.

Because her son is safe, Garcia De Paredes, who also sits on HARC’s board, is able to work as the office manager in her husband’sdental practice. And the programs keep her son happy.

“It’s his whole life. He gets up in the morning and he looks at his calendar and he sees what he has and it’s a very important part of his life,” she said.
Many agencies already operate with little financial cushion and some are already in the red, said Ryan Goodenough, director of government affairs for NYSARC, the New York chapter of the Arc.

If the cuts go through, some won’t be able to pay their bills and will end up closing, he said.

“We don’t have any reliable estimate (of the number). A ballpark guess would be 10 to 20 percent of the agencies in the state,” he said. That works out to 70 to 140 agencies.

“I don’t know where those people are going to be able to get support services if they have no agency left that’s supporting them,” said Karen Korotzer, CEO of The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter.

Both Korotzer and Crosley stressed that their agencies are not in danger of folding.

Suzanne Bakiewicz is watching the drama from three positions. She’s the national sales director for Herkimer Industries, a division of HARC. She sits on the state’s family support advisory council for Oneida County. And her teenage son is on the autism spectrum.

Although her son now receives all the services he needs through their school district, Bakiewicz worries about his future.

“Once he graduates from school, the question is,” she asked, “will there be services available to him and throughout his adult life?”

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