Re: More of Bonnie Dohogne's excellent work...

[Guest guest]

Hi.

Thanks for posting Ellen.  The Dept. of Human Services budget proposed by the

governor is 3 pages.  It's hard to see the drastic cuts the Arc describes --

and

large increase for institutions --without looking at the budget for DHS, because

there's no separate DD or DRS budgets.  So having a copy of those 3 pages and

using what Ellen's sent as guides to read the line items will help.  If you

legislator doesn't get you a copy of DHS budget, proably Marc Staley will

provide or direct you how to get it.

Bonnie

________________________________

From: ELLEN BRONFELD <egskb@...>

IPADDUnite

Sent: Wed, April 27, 2011 5:17:26 PM

Subject: More of Bonnie Dohogne's excellent work...

 

Here is more information to use when talking to a visiting with your State

legislators and other officials and bureaucrats:

Governor Quinn's proposed budget for IL Dept. of Human Services for Fiscal Year

2012

The information below is from Marc Staley, the Human Services Manager in the

Governor's Office of Management and Budget. Marc can be reached at 217.782.3787

and marc.staley@.... He was good enough to go through line by line to

answer the questions raised in the advocates' meeting on 4-25-2011 with Rep.

Robyn Gabel.

There is no separate budget for DD or DRS, they are all a part of DHS total

budget.

DHS is organized by major function/program area:

DASA - Alcoholism and Substance Abuse

DD - Developmental Disabilities

MH - Mental Health

DRS - Rehab Services

CHP - Community Health and Prevention

HCD - Human Capital Development

Admin - Central Admin, MIS, Legal...

Page 1 of DHS proposed budget -

OPERATIONS

Personal Services We had not questioned this line item, but the proposal is for

$756,979,000. It contains the payroll amount of $287 million for the state

employees in the 8 DD SODCs. That $287 million represents an increase of $27.7

million over the payroll figure of 2011. And that's with one SODC closed - Howe.

Under this OPERATIONS category the total amount for SODCs is $330 million. The

$43 million that isn't payroll falls under other line items, such as

Commodities.

LUMP SUMS

DD Transitions This is for moving people out of institutions and into community

placements. The average cost is $64,000 per person. The budget figure is for

people moving out in 2011 and is annualized (I'm not quite clear on that). Most

of the community placements are DD CILAs, with a few being other residential

settings.

LDC Operational Costs This is for the 2 or 3 staff people who have remained at

Lincoln Developmental Center to do maintenance. LDC was closed in the past 5(?)

years.

Page 2 -

GRANTS

Aid to Aged/Blind/Disabled (ABD) This is income assistance, a monthly $100

stipend to low income people who meet eligibility standards, i.e., are aged,

blind or disabled and receive SSI, SSDI or Medicaid.

Best Buddies I expressed to Marc the opinions expressed - that BB is a fine

program, but hoped funding might come from ISBE budget.

Case Services to Individuals This is in DRS and is a general revenue fund (GRF)

of a minimum amount to qualify for federal matching dollars. It is for case

management services mostly for people with physical disabilities.

Child Care Services This is the subsidy for poverty and low income families to

help them pay for child care.

DD Grants & Long Term Care For the Developmentally Disabled (DD) populations.

This funds the PAS (Pre-Admission Screening) agencies all over the state and

includes the HCBS Waiver programs. Also funds CILASs, ICF/DDs, Day Treatment

(DT). That may not be the entire list.

Please note: HCBS (Home & Community Based Services) is an " umbrella " funding

stream that funds HBS (Same as HBSS =Home Based Services), CILAs and DT. I'd not

quite understood this and had used HCBS and HBS interchangeably.

The proposed budget amount is over $200 million less than the amount expended in

2010.

Marc netted out this line item further. Proposals are for

$245 million for ICF/DDs (appears as DDLTC in budget)

$255 million for CILAs

$110 million for DT -Day Training

$54 million for HBSS

I believe our group would agree that the numbers for ICFs and HBSS should be

switched. ICFs are 8 to 16 beds 'institutions.' Marc pointed out that a

comparison between the two isn't easy because the ICFs have buildings, room and

board versus the services only of HBSS. BUT our families want their loved ones

in the community and don't want the state to continue funding the bricks and

mortar and offering a certain number of beds or slots to put PwD into.

Home Services Program This is an HCBS Waiver done through DRS. Money if for

personal assistants to help 3 groups of people: people with physical

disabilities; people with traumatic brain injuries and people with AIDS.

Independent Living Centers For people with physical disabilities. Not direct

service. There are 18 or 19 centers that promote self advocacy and provide

linkages to services.

Page 3

Project for Autism For Hope School and Project for Autism. Marc said the latter

has a website.

Special Services This maintains services to people in the " Bogart class. "

(Apparently from a class action suit. I have a couple calls in to learn more).

SSI Advocacy Services Also required to get federal matching funds. Applicants

who've been denied SSI have the appeal procedures explained. We had assumed this

was funding for HDA (Health & Disability Advocates). But Marc said this is done

" in house' by state employees through the DHS Disability Determination Services.

__________________________________________________________

My editorial comment -- The line items that make the budget unbalanced in favor

of institutions at the expense of community supports and services are Personal

Services under Operations (too much) and DD Grants and long-term care (too

little for CILAs, HBS and DT and too much for ICF/DDs)/

Prepared by Bonnie Dohogne, 4-26-11

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...