Agencies ask county for money
By Brandy Nance
Originally published 02:19 p.m., June 12, 2008
Updated 02:19 p.m., June 12, 2008
Lyon County commissioners are in the process of hearing the 2009 allocation requests from area agencies as two agencies made their plea for allocations during Wednesday’s Lyon County Commission study session.
Ty Wheeler of Kansas Legal Services and Bill Persinger of The Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas presented their appropriation requests to county commissioners Wednesday.
Wheeler said Kansas Legal Services received a significant cut last year and the effects on the agency were great. The agency served 909 people in 2007. It had to turn 139 cases away because there weren’t enough funds to take the cases.
“We said ‘no, we can’t help you because we don’t have the resources,’” Wheeler said.
Wheeler said of the 909 cases in 2007, 861 were actual representations where the agency went to court. The agency also served 103 divorce cases, most with domestic violence allegations; 58 protection from abuse cases; and 18 paternity cases. Kansas Legal Services’ number of protection from abuse cases were down in 2007 by 33 because of a shortage of funds.
“I don’t want to tell a client no and have that nightmare situation happen,” he said.
Wheeler asked commissioners to restore the agency’s funding to $7,678, which is what was in the budget last year but was cut. This money is used to help with match funding.
“This year funding received from the attorney general’s office is $11,398,” Wheeler said. “We need $5,600 locally for that match.”
Persinger came to commissioners asking for a 10 percent increase for 2009 for the mental health center.
“This is what we’ve asked for from each of the other six counties,” Persinger said.
Persinger asked commissioners to appropriate $311,010. The center’s total budget in 2007 was more than $8 million.
The mental health center serves clients in Chase, Coffey, Greenwood, Lyon, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee Counties.
Persinger said the center does not budget per county. The allocations received from all counties are put into a general budget. He stressed that the center cannot turn clients away.
“We can’t say no to anybody,” he said. “Never ever. We need your money to help us say yes.”
The center is a major employer in Emporia, Persinger said, employing about 185 people at any given time. It has a wide range of services it provides, from standard counseling services to suicide calls, substance abuse treatment and prevention, the Drug Court program, domestic violence evaluation and treatment, medication prescribing and monitoring and work with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
“We are the only provider of psychiatric medication services in the 7-county region,” Persinger said. “These services are provided to anyone in need, regardless of their income ... the annual cost of this service is $900,000. And yet, we are only able to bring in $237,000 in fees because of the amount of charitable write-offs given to our clients.”
Admissions at the center increased 24 percent in Lyon County from 2005 to 2007, Persinger added.
In other business county commissioners talked about comparison material costs for Lyon County Road and Bridge:
• Crushed rock rose from $4.90 a ton in 2000 to $6.10 a ton in 2008.
• Asphalt winter patch rose from $35.50 a ton in 2000 to $82.50 a ton in 2008.
• Concrete rose from $61.50 a cubic yard in 2000 to $87.50 a cubic yard in 2008 with a $7.25 cubic yard rural delivery charge.
• Diesel fuel rose from $1.124 per gallon in 2000 to $4.109 a gallon in 2008.
• Gasoline rose from $1.162 a gallon in 2000 to $3.436 a gallon in 2008.
• Propane rose from $1.00 a gallon in 2000 to $3.179 a gallon in 2008.
• Grader blades rose from $32.48 each in 2000 to $49.35 each in 2008.
• Salt and Haul rose from $17.99 a ton in 2000 to $31.56 a ton in 2008.
• Road oil rose from $.709 a gallon in 2000 to $2.11 a gallon in 2008.
• Stop signs rose from $16.88 each to $27.37 each in 2008.