Newsletter
State Budget Crunch Impacts People with Disabilities Hard
written by: Richard Forkosh, Executive Director,
UCP of Greater St. Louis
As our state prepares for a new budget to be in place effective July 1st, it is very clear that funding for services for individuals with disabilities will be significantly impacted, especially those services funded through the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Purchase of Service reimbursement. Current projections for budget cuts to the department’s MR/DD Division are in excess of $20 million. Any cuts coupled with an already significant shortfall in needed funding will result in even larger waiting lists for services, put families under greater hardships to keep their disabled family in their natural home and will reduce the level of services people are currently receiving.
There are many consumers/ families currently not receiving any direct funding for services through the Department of Mental Health. Some have entered into fee agreements with agencies such as ours but most agencies have very limited resources to cover their labor and overhead costs now and will be strained even further to maintain any level of services they currently provide. Some programs and agencies will cease to operate leaving more individuals with disabilities without the supports necessary to accommodate their daily needs. While pursuing adequate funding for needed services has always been a priority for our agency, the current fiscal crisis will only make that charge much more difficult.
UCP of Greater St. Louis has always played an active role in trying to work with governmental agencies to find core efficiencies that would promote more accountabilities within the business side of service delivery for individuals with disabilities. We will continue our due diligence to minimize any potential impact that will take place due to the fiscal shortfalls and respond to the best of our ability to assure that many of our most vulnerable citizens, and their families, are not placed in harms way. We have always acknowledged that we are not in this alone.
We will be counting even more on the support of our families, donors and other interested parties to help us through the upcoming months and years ahead. As always, your efforts and commitment to our agency and the people we support is greatly appreciated and needed more now than ever before.
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