Budget cuts and lay offs will indeed harm children

CSB budget cuts 52 workers:
Social workers not on list, chief says
Kymberli Hagelberg, Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 25, 2006.

Summit County Children Services Board on Tuesday approved a 2007 budget that calls for the layoff of 52 employees and a reduction in expenses that is projected to save about $2.1 million.

Board members William D. Evans, Richard Marsh, vice chairman Gerald O. Holland, Joe Morris and Mary Ann Freedman voted for the $52.1 million budget. GinaKaye Maddox voted no. Chief operating officer Katerina Papas said deciding on which cuts to make wasn't easy.

"Choices are difficult, especially when it means individual jobs . . . ," Papas said before the vote during the board's Resource Committee meeting. "Our most important choice is to serve the children."

Papas said the layoffs would not include any social workers and that existing vacancies for social workers would be filled. The board declined to give further details on specific positions to be eliminated.

Papas said employees on the layoff list will know their fate in about a month.

The agency's contract with its union employees requires a 30-day notice of pending layoffs. The ratio of union to management jobs to be cut was not disclosed.

The lack of detail in the budget was an initial concern for Morris, who voted in committee against recommending the budget.

"How do we know they're the right cuts when we can't see where they're coming from," he asked.

Morris ultimately voted for the budget after the group met in closed session. He left before the regular meeting ended and did not explain what changed his mind.

Marsh said that the number of children served by the agency had dropped while the number of employees has increased. He added that the agency needs to spend its money wisely as it looks to persuade an aging generation of county voters to pass a levy sometime next year.

Maddox, the only vote against the budget, called into question the timing of the layoffs.

"A more favorable option, that I would have been comfortable with, is letting the people keep working for a year. This would have ensured maximum care for the children for as long as possible," she said. "We could have worked the whole time to pass a levy in November (2007). When we came to people, we would have restored their trust and they would know (the levy) was an emergency.

"I think people would have rallied around that."

Operational cutsFinance director Gary Binns said the new budget also calls for operational cuts.The agency will no longer have satellite offices away from its South Akron headquarters, computers will be replaced every five years, a year later than normal, and travel and training expenses will be reduced.

The new budget will raise the agency's surplus from $19 million to $29 million at the end of 2007, when the current levy is set to expire. Without additional funding, Children Services will face a deficit of $196,000 in 2008.

Critics said the budget was pushed through too quickly and claims unrealistic savings."There needs to be a more deliberative process," County Councilman Pete Crossland, D-4, Akron, said after the meeting. "You don't pop out a budget on Monday and expect people to know enough to pass it on Tuesday."

Robin Schenault, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4546, which represents agency employees, said the agency will spend $600,000 of its savings on unemployment compensation for laid-off workers.

"That comes right out of our budget since we're self-insured," Schenault said.

Possible union action
The union also would likely appeal the layoffs, in accordance with its contract.

"They'll be paying out legal fees in grievances," Schenault said. "The only person who'll make any money on this is Gary Johnson" -- the board's contracted labor attorney.

Schenault said the board's assurance that care of children would not be affected is unrealistic.

"The number of caseworkers won't be cut, but their workload will be much bigger," she said. "And that means they'll spend less time in the field with children, which is where they should be."

Mixed reaction
Board members got mixed messages from the audience during its public comments.

A foster parent said she believed the agency was doing a good job, but cautioned that arguments between the board and the community would make already vulnerable children feel less secure.

A local minister chastised the board for proposing layoffs at the same time it gave its acting executive director a $27,000 raise.

Board president Cindy S. Johnson was critical when an audience member shook his head at her ending comments.

"You can shake your head," Johnson said. "The easy decision would have been to keep spending."

Johnson said the agency has a good public image, despite a small number of critics.

"What we're finding is we're maintaining a positive image in the community as a whole," she said.

CSB will not ask voters to approve a levy in February as it had previously planned. Johnson said the board will instead decide at a later date whether to propose the issue at a special election in May, August or at the general election in November.