As states cut spending, programs suffer
HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) – The signs in the waiting room at Holyoke’s welfare office prepare visitors for the hassle: “Due to the staffing shortage, you may have to wait to see your worker. Please be patient.” The signs went up last week after state budget cuts led to the layoff of nine caseworkers in Massachusetts’ poorest city. Those layoffs, and the closing of a welfare office 15 miles away in Northampton, have increased the caseload for the 30 remaining caseworkers at the Holyoke office, which serves about 3,000 people.
“Everything seems to be taking so much longer now, even just to get to see someone,” said Alana Warren, a 29-year-old single mother of two who receives welfare, food stamps and job training. She said getting her 3-year-old and 7-month-old sons started in day care was delayed for two weeks because of the backlog.
Massachusetts and nearly every other state have been confronted with budget deficits for fiscal year 2002 because the weak economy and the downturn on Wall Street led to lower-than-expected tax revenue. Many states are laying off employees and cutting services.
The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates state spending gaps will total $49 billion in the 2003 fiscal year, on top of a $37 billion deficit from the year before.
“The non-essential things usually get cut first – arts programs, parks and recreation – things like that,” said Corina Eckl, fiscal program director for the conference. “But that hasn’t been enough, and many states have turned to other programs to cut. Higher education and social services have been very susceptible.”
In Massachusetts, acting Gov. Jane Swift slashed $200 million in spending on such things as higher education, Medicaid and aid to cities and towns to help close a $300 million budget gap. She is urging lawmakers to find a way to cover the rest of the deficit.
In Virginia, more than 1,800 state workers were laid off to save $828 million, or about half of the state’s $1.5 billion shortfall.
Montana is expecting a $250 million deficit that will threaten child care, mental health services, prescription drug coverage and health insurance for the poor.
Oklahoma plans to furlough nearly 5,000 prison workers to make up $30 million in cuts.
In Kansas, the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services plans to close its offices in 23 counties next year because of $41 million worth of cuts in the $4.4 billion state budget. “In some ways, there’s a simple explanation,” said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. “The boom in the late ’90s was unique. But state income tax receipts have dramatically fallen as the result of the economic bust. And states have become more reliant on income taxes than they have been in the past.”
Linda Lococo has never worked harder during her 26 years as a Massachusetts welfare caseworker. The reason: People lose their jobs, and the state ends up with less money to collect in income taxes. Then the very department that is supposed to help the unemployed gets cut back. “It’s hard to get up every morning and know that you can’t do your job the way you want to because they’ve taken so many of your tools away,” Lococo said. “But so many people are relying on us. We’re their link to a job, day care and whatever benefits are going to get them over a hump. We’re here for them.”
Lococo juggles about 95 cases, but only the most pressing get her immediate attention. She just hopes those cases do not require a translator.
Five of the nine laid-off workers at the Holyoke office spoke Spanish, the language of many of the area’s welfare recipients. Another spoke Russian. Now, only three of the office’s 30 caseworkers speak Spanish.
“If I get a client who speaks Spanish, it often means having to pull one of the receptionists or operators from their job to help me,” Lococo said. “It’s ridiculous and it takes up a lot of time, but there’s nothing else we can do.”
Carlene Renaud, acting director of the office, said the signs were put up in the waiting room so that people would know they were not being ignored.
“So far, they haven’t gotten too upset,” she said, “but people have only so much patience.”