Budget cuts draw passionate pleas
MONTPELIER — Over the course of his 34 years, Andreas Yuan, a developmentally disabled man prone to hearty smiles and even heartier hugs, has had more than 2,500 caregivers, his mother said. So many that she can’t possibly remember all their names.
Todd Washburne (left), who is autistic, gets help from his mother, Gloria, as he testifies with a voice computer during a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed state budget cuts to health and human services in Montpelier. Washburne is fearful the cuts will affect programs that support him.
Finally, in recent years he’s had some stability in his care and she’d very much like him to keep that, Susan Yuan of Jericho told legislators who are considering cuts to the care he receives.
Susan Yuan brought her son to the Statehouse and joined others in putting a face Tuesday on the proposed 4 percent budget cuts to agencies that provide help for developmentally disabled and mentally ill Vermonters.
“It’s going to make a significant difference in our lives,” Susan Yuan said. The cuts likely mean he will have to give up therapy and communications assistance he receives, she said.
The agencies that provide that care are among those targeted for cuts as state officials try to make up a $37 million shortfall in revenues this year.
Of all the cuts that were outlined Monday when the Douglas administration released a list of the first $19.7 million, this one drew the most attention at a public hearing Tuesday before the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee.
Finance Commissioner Jim Reardon appeared ready for that. “It’s not fun to be sitting here,” he told the committee. “It will have an impact on programs and services and those impacts will be significant.”
Julie Tessler, executive director of the Vermont Council of Developmental and Mental Health Services, said the cuts will force as many as 200 layoffs at 16 agencies around the state and a reduction in services to clients that will put a strain on families and send more clients to hospitals for more expensive care.
The HowardCenter in Burlington is one of those agencies. Executive Director Todd Centybear said the budget cut looks like it would translate to 35-50 layoffs there.
Clients needing help with mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance abuse and sexual abuse face longer waits and reduced services, he said. Efforts would focus on those most in crisis, he said.
Centybear, who has been discussing the cuts with the Douglas administration in recent days, is in a bind. If the cuts are going to be made, he needs for them to happen quickly because he only has a half of the fiscal year to make up the money, but he also believes cuts like this need more analysis to study the implications.
“What there has not been is any conversation about what are the actual service reduction implications on a community level, of people not going to be served, of people being served less,” he said. “There’s not been time.”
Margaret Joyal, director of outpatient services for Washington County Mental Health, said she expects her agency would have to lay off 50 people. Cutting just two providers means 120 clients won’t be seen, she said, putting some of them at risk of crisis situations. “They’ll be in our prisons and they’ll be in our hospitals,” she said.
Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, chairwoman of the Joint Fiscal Committee, which will vote on the cuts Friday, knew the committee would hear these compelling stories Tuesday in response to the cuts.
Todd Washburne, 42, of Montpelier told his story by voice recorder. He was “raised as retarded,” he said, but thanks to help he’s received from Washington County Mental Health Services, he is within sight of a high school diploma, planning to go to college next year and become a professional writer.
“Without enough help I will be doomed to the rest of my life as an underachiever who is never going to accomplish my goals,” he said. “I am scared to death I may never be given a chance to lead a productive life.”
Bartlett acknowledged it is difficult to make cuts in the face of such stories. She is prepared to do it anyway, she said.
“I have the advantage that I know what the rest of the reductions look like,” she said.
Another revenue downturn is expected in January and yet another in April, she said, but these agencies have been assured that after this 4 percent cut, they will be off limits for further cuts this year. “They know this is going to be it for them.”