Come out, speak up at tonight's 7 pm public
hearing on the proposed 2012 Dutchess County
budget(!):
It'll be on the sixth floor of our County Office
Building at 22 Market Street in Poughkeepsie; see:
http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/Legislature/CLagenda.htm ...
[let's hope Dems don't cave to GOP re: jail
expansion; sadly, there are already signs this
might happen!]
[can't make it?...email 26 of us--
countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us;
countyexec@co.dutchess.ny.us]
Dutchess County Dept. of Mental Hygiene CSEA Shop
Steward Shaun Chesley statement last night:
"Almost two years ago, CSEA was informed of the
transition plans of contracting out the services
of the Continuing Treatment centers of the
Department of Mental Hygiene to Occupations Inc.
CSEA was told that this transition would take
place using attrition, meaning that if employees
found other positions or retired, those positions
were to be back-filled by Occupations Inc.
employees. This plan is fair, and it has been
done in the past. It means no layoffs, and it
allows for all parties to transition painlessly
while maintaining services to the residents of
Dutchess County.
On November 1st we were surprised to learn that
the County Executive suggests in his 2012
Tentative Budget to not only break the agreement
of the Transition plans and our past practices,
but to go against our Collective Bargaining
agreement by contracting out services and laying
off existing employees.
This is not only wrong; it is illegal, and we ask
that you reject this proposal and return to the
past practice of the agreed-upon transition
plans."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fact: "The County will not exercise its right to
contract work out if the result of contracting
out is the layoff or discharge of then existing
employees."
[from p. 25 of Dutchess County's contract
1/1/05-12/31/09 w/CSEA is still in effect now!]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From: Tracey Osetek
Subject: 2012 Proposed Budget
Dear County Legislators,
My name is Tracey Osetek. I am a
Dutchess County Department of Mental Hygiene
employee working as a Recreation Therapy Aide
for Millbrook Continuing Treatment Center. I came
into this position 8 years ago simply looking for
a job but found my calling in servicing those who
are inflicted with mental illness. I have finally
decided to pursue a career as a psychiatric
nurse. Unfortunately, I will be unable to do that
if the 2012 proposed budget is passed. This
budget has called for the elimination of 22 DMH
positions, mine included.
I have a 3 year old and a 17 year old to
support. My 3 year old has a sensory processing
disorder which requires a structured program and
services to help him. I will not be able to
continue to pay for this if I am laid off. My 17
year old is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. He
is doing well but he needs his medication to
maintain the stability of his symptoms. I will
not be able to provide his medication without my
insurance.
This proposal does not only effect myself, my
children, my coworkers, my friends, but it
severely effects our main purpose, the clients we
serve. The closing of Hudson River Psychiatric
Center has already displaced many patients and
with the closing of our three Continuing
Treatment Center's these patients will be left
with minimal services available to them.
A private organization is slated to take over
all three of our Continuing Treatment Center's
but they will only be able to serve the higher
functioning patients since they operate under
PROS, Personalized Recovery Oriented Services.
This system is designed to encourage
recovery which consist of symptom management,
education, independence, job training and
reintroduction into the community and work force.
This is a great plan for those who are at the
capacity to achieve those goals.
What about the large portion whose illness is
severe and persistent? Where will they end up?
Jail? On the street? There is no room at the
hospitals due to Hudson River's closing. I work
as a per diem Pt Care Tech on the 5th floor at St
Francis Hospital and have witnessed first hand
the cycle that occurs. St Francis is overflowing
and patients have been sent as far as Glenn Falls
because there are no beds.
I ask that you restore and fund these
positions so that DMH employees can continue to
provide the services this population
so desperately needs and continue to try and
formulate a more cost effective plan to operate
Mental Hygiene.
Sincerely,
Tracey Osetek
##################################################
[recall below info re: proposed county budget
cuts-- originally sent out a few days ago (Tues.)]
Did you know that, aside from the eleven county
budget cuts already proposed by Dutchess GOP,
that they have also proposed the following six
unnecessarily cruel cuts for 2012 (compared to
other years)?
[again: kudos to Dan F. for comin' out strongly
against these cuts; vote
http://www.DanFrenchExec.com ;
also-- Gibson's allegiance to Norquist no help;
see http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ILikeIke : my
solution!]
-- $197,000 less for Mid-Hudson Library System in 2012 than in 2009
-- $151,000 less for Dutchess County Arts Council in 2012 than in 2009
-- $82,000 less for Family Services in 2012 than in 2009
-- $104,000 less for our county's Workforce
Investment Board in 2012 than in 2009
-- $59,000 less for our county's Soil and Water
Conservation Board in 2012 than in 2009
-- $125,000 less for BI Community Transitions in
2012 than in 2009 [I've visited facility; cuts
will hurt!]
[wake up Dutchess-- FDR didn't get us out of the
Depression with budget cuts, layoffs,
union-busting!]
Here's a breakdown of the other draconian county
budget cuts Dutchess GOP have proposed for 2012:
[co. budget info--
http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/CountyExecutive/20601.htm
]
-- $3.3 million cut to our county's Department of
Mental Hygiene (meaning 49 to be laid off!)
-- $1.5 million cut to pre-school special education for children 3-5
-- $850,000 cut to early intervention for children 0-3
-- $798,000 less for day care in 2012 than in 2010
-- $158,000 less for our county's Youth Bureau in 2012 than in 2009
-- $135,000 cut to Dutchess Community College
-- $960,000 less in services for DSS recipients in 2012 than in 2009
-- $484,000 less for Dutchess County Community Action in 2012 than in 2012
-- $740,000 less for Hudson Valley Mental Health in 2012 than in 2009
-- $191,000 less for Hudson River Housing in 2012 than in 2009
-- $30,000 less for Grace Smith House in 2012 than in 2009
[...and again-- see
http://www.TriCountyCrisisCenter.org ; Grace
Smith needs funds; TCCC does too!...]
Pass it on!...
Joel
(845) 444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.JoelforCongress.org
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel
[join 200+ already signed on in support!]
p.s. Again-- I received a call Thurs. night from
one county employee (of 49) from Dutchess Co.
Dept. of Mental Hygience to be laid off; they've
been working with mentally ill folks unemployed
who have turned to alcohol/substance abuse-- this
county employee pointed out to us the irony of
GOP creating more depressed unemployed who may
well turn to alcohol or drug abuse after being
laid off-- insanity...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2011/November/02/DC_budget-02Nov11.html
...
POUGHKEEPSIE - Dutchess County Executive William
Steinhaus unveiled his proposed 2012 county
budget of $411 million Tuesday. The proposal
applies $24.4 million from the general fund
balance, and cuts 49 mental hygiene full time
equivalent positions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fact: The Daily Freeman reported Sept. 29th that
"In a memo released Wednesday...by Dutchess
County Budget Director Valerie Sommerville and
Finance Commissioner Pamela Barrack...the
county's fund balance currently stands at $30.9
million, a number that is significantly above the
$17.5 million fund balance the county ended 2010
with." [Poughkeepsie Journal and
MidHudsonNews.com = same]
[
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/09/30/news/doc4e8519aa68730023971139.txt
]
Don't forget-- Dutchess CSEA's Shaun Chesley,
Hyde Park's Doris Kelly, Rhinebeck's Marcia
Slatkin, Ruth Boyer, Fred Nagel, Sandra
Oldenburg, and Edmond Roberts, Clinton's Pat
Zolnik, Carmen Region, Milan's Sheila Buff,
Fishkill's Josh and Mara Farrell, Wappinger's
Philip Banco, Rich Carlson and Richard Vineski,
Beacon's Susan Osberg, Erika Waldron, and Dan
Rigney, Poughkeepsie's Barbara Lindsey, Scott
Patrick Humphrey, East Fishkill's Joette Kane,
Red Hook's Cary Kittner and Doris Soroko, Dover's
Nora Edwards, Bangall's Alison Francis,
Millerton's Dianne Engleke and Joan Daidone, and
Pleasant Valley's Sue MacNish all signed (35
total now):
http://www.petitiononline.com/cobudget .
[my petition to avoid ALL county employees from
being laid off-- while eliminating county
property taxes-- county-level income tax as
solution to stop county budget/tax insanity for
2011, beyond-- if
OK for certain GOP state legislators to propose
income tax to fund schools, why not this local
reform?]
[economists agree: massive budget cuts and
layoffs are exact WRONG thing to do in current
recession; if we here in Dutchess aren't going to
honor FDR's legacy and fight draconian cuts like
this-- who will?...more and more from all over
embracing progressive solution:
http://www.petitiononline.com/cobudget ; as it is
already, GOP have privatized far too many mental
health services over the past few decades to
non-union nonprofits-- driving down wages locally]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[again-- see http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org
for state budget position that Molinaro SHOULD
have been pushing-- instead of massive state
budget cuts to schools and everything else that
he and Cuomo rammed down our throats this year;
solution = progressive taxation of millionaires
that poll after poll after poll has proven vast
majority of us want-- Marist, Siena, Quinnipiac,
Hart poll; recall massive statewide Growing
Together Better Choice Budget Coalition-- NYS
Library Association, NYS Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, NYS AFL-CIO, NYSUT, CSEA, PEF,
AFSCME, NY Jobs with Justice, Dutchess Outreach,
NY Statewide Senior Action Council, NYS Alliance
for Retired Americans, Interfaith Alliance of
NYS, Interfaith Impact of NYS, Environmental
Advocates, Citizen Action, NYS Community Action
Association, Hunger Action Network of NYS, New
Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, FPI:
http://www.hungeractionnys.org/Poeple%20SOS%20release%202011.pdf ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=state ;
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/08/16/100816ta_talk_surowiecki ]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[here below-- reminder of just how much county
budget has already been slashed over past few
years]
From
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/12/eight-crucial-programs-slashed-in.html
...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Eight crucial programs slashed in county budget-- help get truth out, folks...
The fact is that after all the county budget kabuki theatre over the
last few months, the County Exec and GOP Co. Leg. majority completely
eliminated the following eight crucial, proven cost-saving, and
pro-active programs-- preventive programs which, now cut (laying off
28 county workers) by their absence, will end up driving up county
property taxes further: [hold 'em accountable now, folks-- before
this all stale]
[note: contrast these first three cuts w/GOP drive for new $75
million, 300-bed jail addition; wake up!]
1. GOP eliminated county funding for the BOCES
GED program in our Jail (program endorsed
even by jail's leadership).
[tho only $87,000/year this program cuts recidivism rate in half for
Transition Unit-- from 56% to 28%]
2. GOP eliminated Project Return (juvenile delinquency prevention)
for 45 kids at county Youth Bureau.
[effectively costing only $24/day to keep youth with
families--instead of $657/day to be incarcerated!]
3. GOP eliminated Mediation Center of Du. Co. (juvenile delinquency
prevention for troubled teens).
[youth in 245 different families served last year in community-- not
$240,000/year each for incarceration]
4. GOP eliminated the senior home care program at our county's Health
Department; workers laid off.
[will end up costing local taxpayers more-- with increasing number of
seniors in nursing home instead]
5. GOP eliminated Senior Friendship Centers at Millerton, Pawling,
and Fishkill-- with workers laid off.
[will end up costing local taxpayers more-- could well end up pushing
local seniors into nursing homes]
6. GOP eliminated our county's Office of Consumer Affairs [we are all
consumers here in Dutchess!].
[according to County Exec, will mean 76% decrease in ability to
handle local consumer complaints]
7.. GOP eliminated county Health Department water lab
http://wwww.RealMajorityProject.blogspot.com .
[even though Dutchess has literally more public water supplies here
than any other county in NYS!]
8. GOP eliminated our county's Human Rights Commission (in spite of
over 900 complaints annually!).
[slap in face to local African-Americans, Latino immigrants, women,
seniors, disabled, gays, lesbians]
Let's also not forget the fact that the County Exec and GOP Co.
Leg. majority also, frankly, decimated county $$$ for Cornell
Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County (scroll
down just a bit), leaving CCEDC's
Environmental, Agricultural, and Horticultural programs underfunded
by $327,000 for 2011 compared to this year, left the Dutchess County
Arts Council underfunded by $96,933 for 2011 compared to 2010
left Hudson Valley Mental Health clinics underfunded by $200,000 for
2011 (compared to 2010-- meaning higher costs to
taxpayers down the road from psychiatric ward,
jail, prison)-- and left the Lexingon Center for
Recovery
underfunded by $20,000 (no methadone treatment 50 heroin addicts)...
[recall 12/2 statement: Bardavon county budget hearing on need to
fund treatment for 300, not just 250!]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From http://www.CCEDutchess.org (Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess)...
2011 County Funding - Impact on CCEDC
On behalf of Cornell Cooperative Extension
Dutchess County's Board and our constituents, we
thank our Dutchess County Legislators for
restoring as much as they could for CCEDC county
appropriations in the 2011 Dutchess County Budget
during their December 7, 2010 Legislative
Meeting. Their amended budget for CCEDC resulted
in restoring our 2011 budget from the County
Executive's initial $150,000 to $520,000 - 56% of
our 2010 budget. Please join our Board in
thanking our Legislators for doing their best
during a challenging process.
The $404,779 (44%) reduction in 2011 County
appropriations has resulted in staffing
reductions, loss of match dollars leading to
grant funding reductions, and reductions or
eliminations of educational programming and
resources for Dutchess County residents.
Specifically:
· 13 positions have been affected: 7 staff in
currently filled positions have been laid off; 1
staff member's term has not been renewed; 1
vacant position has been eliminated; 1 vacant
position has been reduced; 3 current staff have
been impacted with reduced hours/job
responsibilities - - - 35% of 2010 positions.
· All current programs are undergoing
restructuring due to funding and staff reductions:
The $150,000 restored for 4-H Youth Development enables 4-H to continue in 2011
. This 28% reduction has led to a staff reduction
from 3 to 1? staff with a restructured volunteer
management system planned for 2011, as well as a
reprioritizing of educational programming.
A $130,718 (41%) county funding reduction for
Agriculture/Horticulture has resulted in:
* Decreased commercial Agriculture/Horticulture
expertise with some areas eliminated due to staff
layoffs/position reductions. Specific program
decisions are in the midst of discussion.
Commercial diagnostics will continue to be
available.
* Diagnostic Lab hours will be decreased from 3
mornings/week to 1 morning/week April through
October.
* Community Horticulture, including the
educational demonstration gardens will continue
through fundraising efforts and volunteer Master
Gardeners support.
2011 grant funding enables Green Teen Community
Gardening to continue with program reprioritizing
due to the elimination of 100% county funding.
With 100% county funding eliminated, Financial
Management Education is severely impacted with
the layoff of the sole county funded educator.
Most programming will be eliminated with the
Family Budget Volunteer Educators in transition
pending further review. Other current programming
will remain dependent upon grant funding.
With the restoration of 63% of the Environment
and Energy Program's county funding, GIS services
will be fully available. With a 37% county
funding reduction resulting in the elimination of
1 ? positions, the remaining programming will be
reduced and/or eliminated, pending further
discussions. Watershed programming will continue
through grant funding.
The 28% reduction in county funding for Nutrition
Programs, as well as the 44% reduction in county
funding for the entire organization, has led to a
loss of critical match dollars for a major
Nutrition Grant serving food stamp recipients.
This loss of grant and county funding has led to
layoffs and ultimately less available educational
programs for those in need.
The Relatives as Parents program, currently
solely funding by grant dollars, will continue
due to that funding.
As Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County
looks to 2011 and celebrating 100 years of CCE in
New York State, we will also engage in strategic
planning for the future including restructuring,
shared positions and resources, and other
opportunities. CCEDC has a proud past, and
although the CCEDC you know and rely on today
will be different in 2011, we look forward to
continuing to serve Dutchess County residents and
welcome any ideas you may have.
2011 County Funding by program area are:
$150,000 for 4-H
$75,000 for Nutrition
$185,000 for Commercial Ag/Hort
$110,000 for Environment ($75,000 specifically for GIS)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Don't forget-- all the following cuts went through in the 2010 County Budget:
[despite best efforts from yours truly on this; thanks
to 120+ of you signed on over the past year to my
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveDuCo petition
effort to find alternative cost-savers to cuts
here]
-- $1,000,000-plus cut to our county's Board of Elections
-- $26,000 cut to the Dutchess County Office of
Veterans Affairs (part-time employee laid off)
-- $233,000 cut to our county's Office for the
Aging (Senior Friendship Centers now on 4-day
weeks instead of 5-day)
-- $209,839 cut to Dutchess County Community
Action Agency (meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $200,000-plus cut to DCDOH- laying off 4
county employees, eliminating county's senior
home care program
-- $185,000 cut to Cornell Cooperative Extension
(meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $165,960 cut to the Astor Home for Children (meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $114,000 cut to Family Services (meaning less
services for the most vulnerable in our county)
-- $111,000 cut to Grace Smith House (meaning less services)
-- $106,987 cut to Hudson River Housing (in the
midst of worst housing/foreclosure crisis in
decades)
-- $56,553 cut to the Lexington Center for
Recovery (shortfunding methadone clinic for
heroin addicts)
-- $55,000 cut to Dutchess County Arts Council (meaning less services)
-- $41,000 cut to Mid-Hudson Library System (meaning less services)
-- $28,111 cut to the Mediation Center of
Dutchess County (meaning less services)
-- $23,000 cut to Mental Health Association of
Dutchess County (meaning less services)
-- $23,000 cut to BOCES (meaning less services in transition/re-entry program)
-- $11,000 cut to Lexington Center and $3000 cut
to Literacy Connections (meaning less services)
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