Fayette ARC coping with state cuts
Like other agencies, Fayette County ARC is coping with state budget cuts.
“It’s tough. Right now, we’re OK,” said Patti Jo Crawford, director of home and community services.
But the Uniontown-based agency that serves mentally and physically challenged residents of Fayette County is now working under the state’s 6 percent decrease in rates that became effective in January.
Crawford and Ray Rykaceski, interim director for Fayette County ARC, talked with HeraldStandard.com about state cuts during the agency’s 24th annual informal appreciation breakfast, held Friday to recognize Developmental Disability Awareness Month.
Rykaceski said, “They reduced the rate and expect you to do the same service. Our fiscal year runs from July to the end of June. They haven’t published the rates for next year, but given the governor’s budget, there are threats they are going to reduce our rates again”
Rykaceski said, “There is no fat here. It’s a bare-bones staff.”
Crawford said ARC has about 90 participants in the adult training center, which teaches life skills and helps adults volunteer in the community; about 70 in the home and community component that helps keep residents out of institutions, and about 120 in early intervention that serves residents from birth through age 3.
Rykaceski said, “We’re not alone. The whole provider system is going through this.”