Florida Lawmakers May Cut Social Services To Cover $1B State Budget Shortfall

Some of Florida's social service programs, including ones that care for children and the elderly, are bracing for budget cuts as state lawmakers try to balance the state budget, the Florida Times-Union reports. Most states operate intervention programs, but in Florida, not-for-profit and private companies contract with the state to handle services such as child care, drug rehabilitation and elder care. "Prominent" services contract with the departments of Health, Children and Families and Juvenile Justice. While spending priorities will not be certain until the Legislature meets later this month for a special session, early proposals and "back channel rumors" indicate that funding for not-for-profit agencies that provide preventative programs will be cut. Even though lawmakers acknowledge that such programs are effective, "good programs" still will have to be cut to cover a $1 billion budget shortfall without raising taxes. Possible service cuts include:

• Senior services in Nassau County that feed and bathe hundreds at a cost of $100 per senior per month. Without the service, seniors will be moved to nursing homes, which cost around $5,000 per senior per month.
• The Child Guidance Center, which faces a $200,000 shortfall, may need to turn away 600 children and families who are seeking mental health counseling and treatment.
• Prenatal and neonatal care services, which could lead to children who are more likely to have "major" health problems (Pinzur, Florida Times-Union, 11/18).
• The Duval County health department's "Nurses for 'Can-Do' Schools" program, which provides schools in Jacksonville with a full-time nurse for a total cost of $170,000 per year (Florida Times-Union, 11/18).

Long-Term Effects, Solutions
Studies have shown a majority of the programs lead to long-term savings, and the potential cuts could also have an "immediate" impact. For example, possible cuts at the Cathedral Foundation, which provides stipends to at-home caregivers for the elderly, would force seniors to move to assisted living and nursing facilities, which are "six to 16 times more expensive for the state." Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, said state cuts would also reduce federal and local funding. "A dollar of health and human services is not a dollar, it's a stack of dimes. Ten cents leverages you a quarter, a quarter gets you the next 50 cents. If you take away the first 20 cents of state revenue, you are putting the next 30 cents at risk and it all topples," he added. To prevent cuts and cover the budget shortfall, Levine and others in the social services industry have called on legislators to raise the state sales tax or pass an income tax. However, with a Republican governor and a GOP-controlled Legislature, "tax hikes are not even on the negotiating table," the Times-Union reports. State Rep. Stan Jordon (R) said the "outcry" from providers is overblown, adding, "You can cut an agency 3% and their rhetoric tells you 80% of the services would be eliminated, but if we increase them 3% would they increase 80% in productivity?" (Pinzur, Florida Times-Union, 11/18).