Post by Logan on Feb 16, 2016 18:59:47 GMT -6
Advocates: Keep Unspent Money Within Agency To Serve Intellectually Disabled
HARTFORD — More than 2,100 people with intellectual disabilities are waiting, in some cases for more than 20 years, for residential or in-home services, yet the responsible agency routinely returns several million dollars in "unspent" money each year to the state's general fund, where it disappears.
Tuesday, advocates, parents and legislators testified in support of a bill that would keep unspent money within the Department of Developmental Services, where it could be used to reduce the waiting list. The proposed bill was raised in the General Assembly's public health committee.
For $1 million annually, 10 people can receive services, advocates said.
In the current fiscal year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget department has held back $9.2 million that the legislature approved for DDS — a practice through which an administration tries to get state agencies to do more with less. If those funds are not released, as happens, then the money "lapses," or goes unspent, and doesn't benefit the agency.
Read more: www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-intellectual-disability-funding-0217-20160216-story.html
HARTFORD — More than 2,100 people with intellectual disabilities are waiting, in some cases for more than 20 years, for residential or in-home services, yet the responsible agency routinely returns several million dollars in "unspent" money each year to the state's general fund, where it disappears.
Tuesday, advocates, parents and legislators testified in support of a bill that would keep unspent money within the Department of Developmental Services, where it could be used to reduce the waiting list. The proposed bill was raised in the General Assembly's public health committee.
For $1 million annually, 10 people can receive services, advocates said.
In the current fiscal year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget department has held back $9.2 million that the legislature approved for DDS — a practice through which an administration tries to get state agencies to do more with less. If those funds are not released, as happens, then the money "lapses," or goes unspent, and doesn't benefit the agency.
Read more: www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-intellectual-disability-funding-0217-20160216-story.html