By MACKENZIE ISSLER
GREENFIELD — As the Green River House fights to keep its funding, local legislators says the agency isn’t alone in its struggle, as they expect that next year’s state budget will be “disastrous.”
“There is no question that we are going to see a lot of programs and services lost,” said Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst. “There is going to be a lot of pain and a lot of shared pain … there is no question about it.”
Staff and members at the Green River House, a day program that serves people with serious mental illnesses and has a focus on employment, is afraid it will have to cut staff and services and possibly close, after the governor proposed his lean budget for the year beginning July 1.
Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a $3 million budget cut next year to the state Department of Mental Health’s “adult community mental health services” account, which includes programs like the Green River House statewide, called clubhouses. It is the DMH’s commissioner’s plan to cut $3 million from the state’s clubhouses, if the reduction is enacted. The $3 million represents 17 percent of the funding for these programs, according to the Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition.
Rosenberg said the first he heard about the governor’s proposed cuts to so-called mental health clubhouses was last week, after being contacted by The Recorder.
The Greenfield clubhouse’s staff and members have invited the local delegation to a legislative breakfast in March. Rosenberg said he hadn’t heard about that yet, but if invited, schedule permitting, he would “be happy to go.” But, the Greenfield day program won’t be his only stop and he knows that. “We will be asked to visit and we will visit scores of constituency meetings and programs of this sort … there is $1.5 billion that is going to come out of this budget.”
“I tell everybody the same thing … the important thing is to stay in the budget because if you get eliminated from the budget, getting back into the budget will be extraordinarily difficult.”
He recognized that the 17 percent cut the clubhouses are facing is “extremely deep and painful,” but “holding on and getting through the next couple of years is critical because you can rebuild once the economy improves.”
In the next fiscal year, the state is facing a budget gap of approximately $1.9 billion between the cost of providing current services and the revenue projected to be available, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. Overall, the governor’s budget proposal relies on cuts and savings to close $1.3 billion of the budget gap, counts on $360 million in temporary revenues (including $200 million from the state stabilization fund) and anticipates $244 million from modest tax reforms and other revenue initiatives.
According to the think tank’s analysis, budget cuts recommended in the governor’s proposal include cuts to local aid, public safety, safety net programs, economic development programs and higher education. The proposal also results in modest cuts in education aid to local districts — mostly because federal support that had been used to protect against cuts in recent years is phasing out. The budget also proposes significant reforms in public safety, health care and housing policy.
“We are trying to keep as many things going as possible, even if it is a lower level of services than the past,” he said.
The state senator says it is too early to tell about this particular program, especially since the state Senate and House of Representatives still have to make its budget proposals.
But, Rosenberg warned that the ax may not just fall next year and that mid-year emergency cuts could be looming.
Rosenberg was in Washington, D.C., this week at a legislative leaders meeting, which was focused on the federal budget. He said President Barack Obama doesn’t want to make mid-year cuts, although the House of Representatives wants to cut $100 billion in the next couple of months and the Senate hasn’t spoken yet.
Rosenberg has been a senator since 1991 and during his tenure he has worked through three recessions and had to craft budgets during those tight times.
“This one, I think is going to be the toughest; all of the federal stimulus is gone … there is no help coming from the federal government, they made that clear (Thursday).”
Newly elected state Rep. Denise Andrews plans to visit the staff and members of the Green River House. Andrews said, since taking office, she has visited many different agencies to learn about them. She always asks them their operating budgets and staff raises. “Time and time again, there have been no raises for four years.”
Andrews predicted that if programs like the Green River House are shut down, it could cause more stress on the individual clients and families, but also could land them in services that are more expensive. “It is not a good business decision for the community to make.”
She said it is also not always about making money and these programs allow people to “fulfill their potential.”
“We really need to dig in and understand the implications of what’s proposed,” she said. “My commitment is to go meet with the organization, to understand the impacts and to form coalitions to push for adequate funding.”
“The economic collapse that began in 2009 has had a significant impact on our state budget, as it has on all states,” said Jennifer Kritz, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services. “We have had to make some very difficult budget decisions across state government, but responsible fiscal management has kept our state on a path toward recovery and economic growth.”
“Despite our fiscal challenges, DMH continues to serve 21,000 adults, children, adolescents and families with serious mental illness with both inpatient and community services, a broad array that are individualized to meet the rise and fall nature of mental illness,” she said.”
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