Some creative thinking is in order at Wadena County Social Services after projections of higher-than-expected costs in foster care and community corrections in 2008 and a forecast of federal cuts in children's programs for 2009.
The federal government cut the county's IV-D child support funds by $99,000 for 2009, said Social Services Director Paul Sailer. And the county is expecting to lose up to $150,000 next year in reimbursement for child welfare targeted case management.
In addition to these financial cuts, Sailer said the 2008 projected costs for the community corrections department and for social services' out-of-home placements are higher than what the county budgeted for this year.
Sailer informed county commissioners of the preliminary budget information during the social services board June meeting in anticipation of the county's July 17 budget meeting.
"I'm not approaching this budget as if the sky is falling," Sailer said.
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The department has enough experience with past recessions to know it usually comes out with some creative ideas, he said.
"We have to reexamine what we do," he said.
The 2008 cost for out-of-home placements is expected to total $337,074 rather than the $280,000 that was budgeted. One reason is the adoption of a child did not go through and now the child is back in residential treatment, Sailer said. There were 29 children in substitute care as of May 31.
Sailer hopes the cost will come down around $310,000, a number that is being projected for the 2009 budget, he said.
Todd-Wadena Community Corrections is projecting costs totaling $493,504 for 2008 rather than the budget of $335,298.
Corrections averages far fewer children than social services, usually eight or nine, so costs can go up and down very quickly by adding or losing one or two children, Sailer said. Ninety percent of the children in community corrections are in residential treatment.
"So we are talking six to seven thousand dollars a month ... per child," Sailer said.
Dave Schermerhorn, social services board chairman, asked why the cost is so high for so few people.
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The children placed by the corrections department have committed serious crimes, Sailer said. And the county pays 100 percent of the cost for kids in community corrections.
Last year the county provided $25,000 in new county program aid toward the $335,298 community corrections budget. This year, Todd-Wadena Community Corrections Director Katherine Langer is recommending a 2009 budget of $376,000, Sailer said.
The numbers aren't all bad for the county, Sailer said. The numbers for the transit program look good.
"MnDOT is funding us really nice," he said. "It's really nice to see one state department seems to be able to provide this kind of revenue."
Sailer pointed out that the transit budget is separate and cannot be used to make up for funding in other areas of social services.
He did mention other ways of dealing with the budget problems. The county faced serious numbers like this in 2004, Sailer said. And social services did a number of things to bring in revenue.
"It's often easier, I've found, to find revenue than it is to start whacking away," he said.
The Special Needs Basic Care program and a community support grant are two possible sources of income, according to Sailer.
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By signing people up with SNBC, Wadena County has earned from $1,400 during its first month of enrollments to $8,000 in the third month, he said. The county will need to figure out what the earnings average out to over time.
Social services will also need to examine how to structure the 2009 budget to help the county out in 2010 and 2011, Sailer said.
The commissioners agreed.
"I don't think we're just riding out one bad year," said Commissioner Mary Harrison.
