County Seeks More Funds to Avoid In-Home Aid Cuts

In an attempt to avoid deep cuts in homemaker services to the blind, elderly and disabled, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has appealed to Gov. George Deukmejian for $27.5 million in additional funds.

Without the additional money by Nov. 1, the supervisors warned of a “termination” of services to 2,800 people along with “significant cuts” for the remaining 44,000 beneficiaries in the county.

In a letter made public on Friday, the board told Deukmejian that the current state appropriation of $154 million fails to take into account the projected growth in the program or “the higher than average disability level” of county residents who receive benefits.

Under the program, more than 100,000 low-income elderly and disabled people statewide are helped by hired workers who perform household chores and non-medical care as an alternative to more costly institutionalization.

Earlier this year, the Legislature voted the county an extra $6.9 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30. But it also directed that in the future all counties must live within their allocations for the program, officially known as In-Home Supportive Services.

A spokesman for the governor said Deukmejian had not read the supervisors’ letter, which was dated Wednesday. But the state Department of Social Services, which administers the program, is reviewing the projected shortage of funds in Los Angeles County.

“We have indicated that it is certainly possible that they may not get any more funding,” said Loren Suter, a deputy director of the department. “But there hasn’t been a decision within the Administration as to what we’re going to do next.”

Shortage Called Surprising

Suter said the shortage in Los Angeles County has outstripped projections. “We didn’t anticipate anything that close to the $27.5-million projection,” he said.

Suter said the county caseload is rising “at a much higher rate than the statewide average.”

Clancy Leland, the county’s lobbyist in Sacramento, said the number of elderly people in Los Angeles County is increasing.

In addition to the county, senior-citizen and various advocate organizations for the disabled also complained to the Deukmejian Administration about the shortage of funds.

“The department’s under-funding of Los Angeles forces In-Home Supportive Services there to be cut without reason or regard for need,” according to the statement released by nine advocacy groups, spearheaded by the Western Center on Law and Poverty.