Office of Children and Family Services

The enacted budget makes the following changes to the Executive Budget (analysis as of March 30, 2009):

• Allows the closure of Adirondack, Cattaraugus, and Great Valley Residential Centers; Pyramid Reception Center; Rochester and Syracuse Community Residential Homes; Buffalo, Syracuse and Capital District Evening Reporting Centers; and the downsizing of Allen and Tryon Residential Centers without compliance with existing 12 month notice requirements.  No specific closure dates are set for these facilities.  Does not eliminate the 12 month notice requirement for future closures.  Management has stated that the projected closure date for all targeted facilities/programs except Pyramid Reception Center is July 1, 2009.

• An All Funds increase of $9.15 million from the Executive Budget appropriation.  Funding for the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped Program increases by $8 million from the Executive Budget appropriation (total increase of $9,515,000 from the enacted SFY 2008-09 appropriation), and reflects federal stimulus funding for additional services and expenses of the Commission.

•  Increases the Youth Facilities Program Executive budget appropriation by $1,154,000, including $1.019 million in personal services and 135,000 in non-personal services.  This increase in Personal Services may be related to need to keep Pyramid open past July 1, 2009 while renovations are being completed at Ella McQueen Residential Center; however we do not have any specific information to confirm this. The total appropriation for this program is still $3,811,000 lower than the enacted SFY 2008-09 appropriation

• Rejects Article VII legislation which would have provided for a four year extension, until January 1, 2014, of the current exemption for employees of the Department of Mental Hygiene, the Office of Children and Family Services, and local government operated, regulated, funded or approved programs from certain social work and mental health professional licensure requirements.

The Executive Budget recommends (analysis as of December 16, 2008):

• A FY 2009-10 workforce of 3,678 FTEs, a decrease of 288 FTEs from the adjusted FTE level for SFY 2008-09.   The 288 FTE reductions will be achieved through the abolition/layoff of 127 FTEs and the attrition of 167 FTEs.  We expect that most if not all of the layoffs will be in the Youth Facilities Program. There is a discrepancy in the distribution of the changes in the OCFS workforce.  According to the narrative in the Agency Presentation, the net decrease of 288 FTEs reflects a reduction of 294 FTEs offset by 6 additional FTEs associated with child abuse legislation enacted in 2008.  According to the table of “Projected Levels of Employment by Program”, the 288 FTE reductions reflect the loss of 349 FTEs offset by the addition of 61 FTEs. The following table, based on the “Projected Levels of Employment by Program” tables in the FY 2008-09 and FY 2009-10 budgets identifies adjustments in the current fiscal year’s FTEs along with the recommended change from the adjusted SFY 2008-09 FTEs by program (if the program is not listed there was no change).  This discrepancy should be clarified in statewide labor-management.

• An All Funds appropriation of $513.8 million, an increase of $663,000 (0.1%) over the enacted appropriation for SFY 2008-09.   This includes a $2.4 million (-1.2%) decrease in Personal Service.

• The appropriations bill shows a $2.9 million increase (1.8%) in Contractual Services. A large increase ($4.4 million, 48.7%) in Contractual Services occurs in the Family and Children’s Services Program.  This contradicts information in the Consulting Service Contract table in the Financial Plan, which shows that OCFS employed an estimated 251 employees under consultant contracts in SFY 2008-09 at a cost of $15.2 million or an average cost of $60,532 per consultant contract employee and will employ the same number of contract employees at the same cost in 2009-10. This discrepancy should be addressed at statewide labor-management.

• The June 1, 2009 closure of the following facilities and programs:  Adirondack, Cattaraugus, and Great Valley Residential Center (-75 beds, -75 FTEs), Pyramid Reception Center (-47 beds, -90 FTEs), Rochester and Syracuse Community Residential Homes (-17 beds, -16 FTEs) and the Buffalo, Syracuse and Capital District Evening Reporting Centers (-30 slots,   -22 FTEs ); and the downsizing of Allen and Tryon Residential Centers (-65 beds, -52 FTEs).  SFY 2009-10 savings: $12.4 million.

• Funding for the Central Administration Program is reduced by $9.1 million (19.7%), reflecting the elimination of the OCFS Program Account ($10 million, Special Revenue-Other).  This may reflect a transfer of Special Revenue-Other funds to the Departmental Administrative Reimbursement Program, which shows an increase of $8 million (30.2 %) in the Departmental Administrative Reimbursement Account.  This should be clarified at statewide labor-management.

• A SFY 2008-09 $8.8 million Maintenance Undistributed appropriation in the Youth Facilities Program for Evidence-based Community Initiatives is eliminated, however the agency indicates that there is $4.2 million in funding for this program, including $3.6 million in State Operations and $.571 million for the Post Residential Supervision Program.  This should be clarified at statewide labor-management.

• $250,000 in funding in the Youth Facilities Program for a recidivism study is eliminated. There does not appear to be a reappropriation for the funding for this study.  This should be addressed at statewide labor-management.

• Article VII legislation repeals the 12 month notice requirement for closures of OCFS facilities.

• Article VII legislation provides for a four year extension, until January 1, 2014, of the current exemption for employees of the Department of Mental Hygiene, the Office of Children and Family Services, and local government operated, regulated, funded or approved programs from certain social work and mental health professional licensure requirements. This extension will enable State operated and other human service organizations to recruit and retain a sufficient number of staff and achieve savings of over $10 million annually.