Utah may delay multi-million dollar cuts to disability services

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

A multimillion-dollar cut to state services for the disabled could be delayed for up to 60 days as Palmer DePaulis assumes leadership of the Utah Department of Human Services.

Legislators on Wednesday asked the head of the Division of Services for People with Disabilities to detail the upcoming cuts that will save $1.65 million in state general fund money and several million more in state and federal dollars.

The anticipated budget cuts include paying private case managers 15 percent less, eliminating single-person programs and decreasing the rate for some types of care.

Alan Ormsby, disabilities division director, reminded members of the Health and Human Services Interim Committee that employee numbers have gone from 274 to 128 in two years. The wait list to receive help is permanently frozen and parents are concerned, he said.

“There’s fear that people will be placed inappropriately in institutions and the state is taking a giant step backward,” he said.

Delaying the cuts as long as 60 days could cost about $1.5 million, Ormsby told lawmakers. “We could potentially come back and ask for a supplemental payment from the Legislature or have to make deeper cuts down the road.”