DHS director: Cuts affect vulnerable Oklahomans

DHS director: Cuts affect vulnerable Oklahomans
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The director of the state Department of Human Services warned lawmakers Thursday that additional budget cuts will force his agency to scale back more services to vulnerable Oklahomans like a nutrition program for frail and isolated senior citizens that has already been cut by more than $7 million. “You’re going to see services cut to people who are more vulnerable than you appreciate,” DHS Secretary Howard Hendricks told members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. “We probably serve one million Oklahomans in the course of a year. It’s an enormous undertaking,” Hendricks said of his agency, which provides services to the elderly, abused and neglected children and people with developmental disabilities. The department has asked that its current state appropriation of about $479 million be maintained for the fiscal year that begins July 1. But lawmakers said another round of budget cuts is likely as state revenue continues to decline. “There’s going to be cuts, and they’re going to be painful,” said Sen. David Myers, R-Ponca City. “We are cutting deep,” said Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, the subcommittee’s chairman. Hendricks said any reduction in services would likely occur in programs in which little or no federal matching funds would be lost. Including federal dollars, the agency’s budget totals more than $2 billion. State Treasurer Scott Meacham’s office reported Tuesday that state revenue came in below expectations in October for the 10th straight month due to low oil and natural gas prices and the economic downturn. Collections by the state’s general revenue fund in October were $374.4 million. That was $116.1 million, or 24 percent, below the previous year, and $83.3 million, or 18 percent, below the state’s budget estimate. For the first four months of the fiscal year that began on July 1, collections are $578.1 million, or 28.1 percent, below the prior year and $471.7 million, or 24.2 percent, below the estimate.

** From November 13 Lawton Constitution.