[NYAPRS Enews] NYS MH Advocates Decry Late Budget Impact, MH Funding/Cuts Considered for Next Week

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: In a powerful follow up to a January 26th Albany rally that
brought 1,500 mental health advocates to town to "protect the mental
health safety net," representatives from those groups held a Capitol
news conference yesterday warning of devastating consequences if state
mental health payments don't go out by July 1. Thanks to presentations
by MHANYS' Glenn Liebman, ACL's Toni Lasicki, NYAPRS' Past President
Josh Koerner and several other groups, the impending state mental health
crisis was the focus on considerable print and televised coverage. 

Governor Paterson is attempting to pass this year's state budget by
inserting cuts in weekly state budget extenders that are necessary to
keep government services going. Building on this past week's Medicaid
cuts, he is reportedly planning to put funding for mental health into
next week's extender, with several unspecified cuts. There are growing
rumors of a 3 way budget deal for next week. Stay tuned for what you can
do!

 

Mental-Health Advocates: Late State Budget To Create "Havoc"

By Cara Matthews  Gannet News Service  June 8, 2010

 

Mental-health advocates said today that the late state budget will have
"devastating" consequences for patients who receive services from
non-profit agencies that contract with the state. Without the July 1
quarterly payment, organizations that comprise the mental health "safety
net" are in jeopardy, including those that provide assistance in the
areas of housing, employment, emergency and crisis services, and others,
leaders of non-profits said.

 

Even if a budget-now nearly 10 weeks late-were enacted immediately, the
lag time of several weeks for the state Office of Mental Health and
county governments to process payments for non-profits will put many
organizations in jeopardy, advocates said. Counties act as pass-throughs
for the state funding, which adds additional time to the equation.
People with psychiatric disabilities will receive diminished services
and some organizations could close, they said.

 

"This is a crisis of immense proportion that will have immediate
repercussions, including the loss of rental subsidies ... the immediate
cut to mental-health programs from housing, transportation, supported
employment, education, case management, summer camp programs, suicide
prevention, youth services and much more," said Glenn Liebman, CEO of
the Mental Health Association in New York State. "It is devastating."

 

Lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson have been unable to reach a budget for
this fiscal year, which began April 1, because they can't agree on how
to close a $9.2 billion budget deficit.

 

The situation is becoming "truly alarming," said Toni Lasicki, executive
director of the Association for Community Living, which represents
providers of residential programs for adults with serious and persistent
mental illnesses.

 

"For many of New York's most vulnerable citizens, the only thing
standing between them and homelessness is the state budget," she said,
adding the state would face higher costs in the end because of
hospitalizations and prison stays, and putting more pressure on already
overburdened shelters.

Providers have been advised to open lines of credit while they're
waiting for the state money, but banks are not lending money to
non-profits, Lasicki said.

 

Joshua Koerner, executive director of CHOICE Advocacy and Case
Management Services in New Rochelle, said not getting state funding
would limit the group's ability to provide services at a time when there
is an influx of people who have lost their jobs. Many are not eligible
for Medicaid, he said. CHOICE provides peer services, which means its
employees have been through the mental-health system themselves.

 

Mary Jean Coleman, upstate regional director of the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention, said if services are not provided, "we will see
increases in the suicide rates within our state."

 

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2010/06/08/mental-health-advocates-late-
state-budget-to-create-havoc/ 

-------------------

 

Mental Health Association Fears Worst If No Budget Is Passed

WNYT  June 9, 2010   

 

If a State budget is not passed by the end of this month, one group says
the consequences for mental health services will be dire.

The Mental Health Association of New York serves over 600,000 people.
The non-profit says they get their funding from the counties, which get
money from the state.

The next payment is coming up, quick.

"The next quarterly payments are due July 1st," says Glen Liebman of
MHANYS. "Because of the budget crisis, there is no funding authority
available from the state after June 30th, unless a budget is passed."

With the extender bill passed Monday night, another health care group,
the Health Care Association of New York State says $775 million in cuts
to health care means no community can assume their local hospital will
survive the future.

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S1596191.shtml?cat=300 

------------------------

Budget Wars: The Governor Strikes Back

By Celeste Katz  New York Daily News   June 8, 2010

 

Get ready for the next installment of budget wars between Gov. Paterson
and the Legislature, says NYDN State Capitol Bureau Chief Ken Lovett:

 

A day after Paterson bullied lawmakers into accepting $775 million worth
of health care cuts as part of an emergency extender to keep government
operating, the governor is considering "a menu of cuts" to other key
areas of the budget to include in the next two extenders.

 

An administration source said Paterson is considering cuts in funding to
the mental health and human services portions of the budget when he
sends up the next emergency spending bill on Friday, which would be
voted on on Monday.

 

The governor might also include some revenue raisers, including a $1 a
pack hike to the $2.75 per pack state excise tax on cigarettes, the
source said.

 

Some fiscal watchdogs say it might be illegal to include ways to raise
revenue in the emergency spending bills, but the Paterson aide said the
administration feels it is on solid legal footing. For the extender that
would be voted on the following week, Paterson is considering adding
cuts to school aid, higher education, and possibly some property tax
relief measures to his emergency spending bill.

 

"We're going to get a budget done one way or another," the Paterson
source said. "We have to continue to move this process along."

 

While the governor would prefer to negotiate a final budget deal with
lawmakers, the aide said, he's prepared to go it alone and force
lawmakers to accept his cuts or shut down government. "If they can't
make the tough decisions, then the governor is going to make those
decisions for them," the source said.

 

Some progress was reported in the budget talks over the weekend, though
a deal is believed to still be at least a week away.

 

By waiting two weeks before seeking education cuts, Paterson is giving
lawmakers time to finalize a budget deal before being forced to decide
on accepting his cuts or shutting government.

 

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Senate Democratic majority, said his
conference is prepared to make more cuts but said they should be done
"as part of a fair and negotiated agreement between the Legislature and
the executive, not through unilateral action." That said, Shafran said
the Senate is not prepared to shut down government.

 

Still, two Bronx Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and Sen.
Ruben Diaz, warned Monday they might not vote for any more extenders
that contain cuts. With all 30 Republicans having voted the past several
weeks against the budget extenders, all 32 Democratic votes are needed
to pass the extenders or government will shut down.....

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20100609/10094bd4/attachment.html>