Legislative Democrats are upset that a budget proposal by their Republican colleagues would pull nearly $100 million from the Department of Economic Security.
The GOP’s 2010 budget proposal, which includes $1.1 billion in spending cuts and the injection of $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money, would equate to a reduction of about $99.5 million from the DES budget, which legislative Democrats say would force crippling cuts to a number of programs and services that the agency provides.
DES, like most state agencies, has submitted an outline to the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting that showed the impact that budget cuts of 5, 10, 15 and 20 percent would have on the department. According to the DES outline, a $99.5 million lump sum hit would make permanent the cuts that the agency underwent in 2009, eliminate programs for autistic children and adoption services, and reduce the number of people that continuing programs would be able to serve.
According to the DES budget-reduction plan, a 5-percent cut to the agency, which equals about $61 million, would make permanent about $43.8 million in cuts it sustained in fiscal 2009. Those reductions include cuts in payments that provide assistance to thousands of foster children, the developmentally disabled and needy families. Due to the fiscal 2009 cuts, DES laid off 620 employees and ordered 9,000 others to take unpaid furloughs.
Among the most troubling of the cuts DES suffered in the fiscal 2009 budget adjustment, which stripped the agency of about $100 million, are those that led to layoffs of Child Protective Services caseworkers, said House Minority Leader David Lujan.
“When CPS is saying they can’t investigate every case of abuse that comes to them, then I think we are putting thousands of children’s lives at risk all across the state,” the Phoenix Democrat said.
In addition to the fiscal 2009 cuts that would extend into fiscal 2010, a 5-percent reduction also would cut a total of roughly $12 million from more than two dozen DES programs. Those cuts, the report said, would leave 500 fewer people receiving shelter under a homeless-assistance program, 450 fewer victims of domestic violence receiving emergency shelter, 400 fewer elderly Arizonans receiving independent-living support, 200 fewer parents in the child-welfare system receiving substance-abuse treatment, and 300 fewer disabled people receiving vocational rehabilitation.
“I’m not even sure where to begin. The cuts are so deep and so devastating,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Rebecca Rios said of the DES cuts in the Republicans’ proposed budget. “DES should not be on the cutting block.”
The cuts in the Republican budget proposal would also cost DES as much as $500 million in federal funding, Rios said. Lujan said the exact amount of federal funding the agency will lose due to budget cuts remains to be seen.
Gov. Jan Brewer’s office has been adamant that the incremental cut outlines submitted by the agencies to OSPB should not be interpreted as budget proposals. Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman referred to the outlines as “a good starting point,” but said it is impossible to determine exactly how much guidance they will provide until more specific budget proposals are formulated.
Legislative Democrats know exactly how much guidance they want the incremental cut outline to provide for DES – none. Their budget proposal, released several days after the Republican proposal, not only recommended no budget cuts for DES, but restored some of the funding the agency lost in fiscal 2009.
“They already sustained cuts that are just massive,” said Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the assistant House minority leader, “so any further cuts I can’t even imagine how bad that would be.”
Rep. John Kavanagh, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, defended the Republican budget plan, saying that the Democrats’ proposal was not realistic or prudent because it relied on a proposed tax increase and payment rollovers, and underestimated the size of the state’s budget deficit.
“Theirs is a lot of borrowing, a lot of taxing and a lot of wishful thinking. So it’s very easy to avoid cuts when you do that,” the Fountain Hills Republican said.
The Republicans’ budget proposal cuts about 3.6 percent of DES’s total funding, Kavanagh said, which is fairly consistent with the average 3.7 percent cut most other agencies will see under the plan.
“I think the cuts are fair and consistent across all areas. Everyone has got to share a little bit of the burden for a solution to this massive $3 billion structural deficit. And if we don’t cut it down now, Lord help us in ’11 when there’s no substantial federal help,” he said.
The Republican plan does preserve funding for one program that DES cited as part of its 5-percent reduction plan — $1.8 million for a program that treats autistic children. Rios, however, was critical, questioning why her Republican colleagues would preserve funding for a program that serves just 16 children while demanding nearly $100 million in lump-sum cuts that will hinder or eliminate other programs that help more people.
“The Republicans in the ’09 fix made this lump-sum cut to DES and said, ‘Here, you take responsibility for making those individual cuts,’” Rios said. “I support autism services. But I think that you cannot prioritize one group over another, and shouldn’t prioritize any of these. These are all worthy of being saved.”
The contrasts between the Republican and Democratic plans appear to foreshadow a brewing fight between the two caucuses over DES funding, but Sinema speculated that Democrats will find an ally on the Ninth Floor. Brewer has long been known as a champion for the mentally ill, the homeless and other at-risk populations, and former colleagues from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors describe her as being instrumental in the creation of the downtown Phoenix Human Services Campus.
Sinema expects the governor’s longtime priorities to show when it comes time to sign a budget.
“DES also funds things like aging and community services, which pay for shelter beds for people who are homeless, and they pay for shelter and prevention services for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence. And those are issues that the governor cares about pretty deeply,” Sinema said. “I think there’s some shared values between certainly our caucus and the Governor’s Office, and I think between many Republicans. Whether or not they’re willing to say it publicly at this point is another story, but I think these are things that lots of people care about.”
At Brewer’s request, the Legislature has approved the reinstatement of $18 million for a DES program that provides child care to low-income families. The funding made the state eligible for about $50 million in federal stimulus money for the program. And when the Legislature approved $500 million in cuts to adjust the 2009 budget, Brewer requested the preservation of $18.3 million for the homeless, the mentally ill and Alzheimer’s disease patients, among others.