Stop the Dismantling of Services for Our Family Members

·         New York State's services for people with developmental disabilities have been significantly scaled back over the past couple of years. Over the past nine months alone, there have been more than $152 million in cuts and other actions to our services funded by the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD).

·      The Governor can't continue to cut comers on essential services to the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

As recent events and the 12/18/09 Albany Times Union Editorial have made clear, such action constitutes a grave risk to the health, safety and even lives of our loved ones with developmental disabilities.

·      Last year, for the first time in more than 25 years, OMRDD-funded voluntary programs received no trend factor leaving them unable to increase wages for low paid direct support staff to keep up with rising costs such as fuel and food, and unfunded State mandates like the MT A payroll tax.

·      State workers, who provide direct care in OMRDD-operated services, received a 3% pay raise on April 1, 2009 and will get a 4% wage increase on April 1, 2010. But the direct support staff in non­ profit agencies, who do the exact same work caring for our loved ones, got ZERO. In the past, the Legislature worked hard to narrow the gap between the pay of the workers in the non-profit agencies and those who work for the State. This long and slow process of narrowing the gap is being swept away because our non-profit agencies have not received the additional funds they need to increase the salaries of their direct support workers.

·      The combined 0% trend and $152 million in cuts and other actions has already forced some non-profit agencies to layoff staff, forego retirement contributions for the year, reduce salaries, close programs and furlough staff forcing them to take unpaid vacation time. Further budget cuts will compel all non­ profit agencies to take these and other actions and will cause many agencies to close down forcing the State to take over their operations at a greater, not lesser, cost to New York State taxpayers

·       Proven alternatives, such as accessing available federal dollars, have been offered to avert the devastating cuts to OMRDD but they have not been considered.