The Streamlining Task Force met today, November 8, 2011, to review more proposals from the Administration in order to reach its minimum target of $25 million.   To date, the Task Force has approved $25,133,232 of cuts.

The Task Force will be reviewing proposals not yet voted upon from the Department of Corrections, the Attorney General’s Office, the State Treasurer’s Office, the Office of Information Technology, Energy, and DHHS at its next meeting on Monday, November 28, 2011.

The Committee voted in the following:

  • A $2 transaction fee – Child Support.   A $2 transaction fee will be charged to the child support-paying parent for recording and monitoring all wage withholdings, including private cases.   Maine has never asked employers to withhold this fee because the system lacked the handling component necessary to properly collect the fee, report and distribute the collections.
  • The State will realize revenues of $327,000 in FY 2012, and the federal government will realize revenues of $659,000.
  • Implementation of a $25 custodial fee.   DHHS has not been collecting this fee authorized by the federal government,   Instead, DHHS has been paying this fee out of its own resources.
  • Long-term Care:   Home and Community Based Providers [HCBC]and Independent Services and Supports ISS].   This proposal, in its original form, would have saved $354,418 each year, buy cutting $177,209 each from both programs by “tightening member eligibility” provisions and integrating programs.   Nearly 135 consumers would no longer have received services.   The average cost per HCBC client is $7,500, and  $1,600 per ISS client.
  • The Task Force reduced the cut by half to $177,210, and voted it in by a vote of 7 to 3.
  • Independent Housing with Services and Affordable Assisted Living – Proposed $125,000 cut by the Administration from a $2.7 million contract.   This proposal would have cut $50,000 from Elder Care Network, with which the State contracts for $100,000.   It would also have cut $75,000 in funds to the eight independent Housing and Support Services facilities.
  • The proposal plans to implement rate standardization for each type of service to replace current reimbursements that vary significantly from one provider to another for the same service.
  • The Task Force voted to cut $125,000 spread across all services in the $2.7 million contract.
  • Suboxone – Cut of $787,313.   The Administration proposed a 2 year cap on the time allowed for clients to be prescribed Suboxone.   Suboxone is used to reduce the craving for opiates.   According to a physician, there is no generic form of Suboxone, which costs $9.70 per pill.
  • The Task Force voted to allow a time extension beyond two years for a medical necessity.   In addition, the Task Force voted not to apply the time limit retroactively, and to require counseling, an individualized treatment plan, and a discontinuance plan.
  • Head Start – Administration proposes a cut of $2.448 million.   The Task Force tabled the proposal and will take it up again at its November 21, 2008 meeting.
  • Eleven Head Start centers will receive a total of $25.8 million in federal funds in FY 2012 which requires a 20% match.   Maine’s General Fund provides 10% and private contributions provide 10%  to meet the required match rate.
  • This proposal was tabled for further information, including but not limited to:
  • The impact of losing the 10% contribution from the General Fund,
  • The proper administering department for the Program, the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Education.
  • General Purpose Aid.   The Administration is proposing a $2 million cut to State agency Clients, which the Task Force accepted.
The Streamlining Task Force met on Friday, October 28, 2011.   All members were present.

The meeting began with a briefing by David Emery, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services and Greg McNeal, director of the Office of Information Technology [OIT].  The Streamlining Task Force is interested in the extent to which technology will be able to reduce costs to the General Fund.   Many state agencies have complained to the Appropriations Committee that the consolidation of all state agencies’ technology [phones, computer, radios, cell phones, etc.] has substantially increased costs charged by OIT to state agencies.

OIT claims that the real costs of technology prior to consolidation were never known, and that per technical piece of equipment costs charged to state agencies has decreased.   OIT claims that it can produce significant savings by:

Inventory control,
Tracking assets,
Review of technologies on a daily basis,
Improved coordination between Project management office and agency management,
Improved internal OIT bills system,
Improved purchasing efficiency and automating the system,
Use of cloud-based technology application and terminating the contract with Microsoft to save $468,000,
Access off-the-shelf technology applications,
Archival storage of data to save between $150,000 and $250,000 annually,
Data right-sizing to save $300,000,
Installation of Voice over Internet to save $500,000 in the out years,
Elimination of 2% of blackberries to save between $100,000 to $140,000 each year.

Corrections

The State Board of Corrections was given a target cut of $335,513.  The State Board pointed out that its authority has been limited with respect to authority over county jails and that the Board needed more time to achieve savings in the Corrections System.  Board spokesmen indicated that they expected significant savings in future years and that originally, savings from consolidation could be earmarked to improve and renovate county jails, some of which are 100 years or older.  County Jails are

The State owes $19 million to county jails for inverse debt that the State Board assumed when it took over the county jails.  The Streamlining Task Force voted to eliminate the cut from the Board of Corrections.

The Department of Corrections presented budget cuts with a net reduction of roughly $3 million.   This included eliminating or closing down of Downeast Correctional facility in Washington County.   The closure would save $5.6 million, but the costs of transferring prisoners to other facilities and the renovations needed would result in net cuts of $2.49 million.

A significant number of Washington County public safety people as well as Washington County legislators attended the Task Force meeting.   The Task Force rejected the proposal and asked the Department of Corrections to come back with a different plan.

The Task Force approved a cut of $260,000 to the Indigent Defense Commission by a vote of 11 to 1.

Higher Education and MPBN

The Task Force voted 7 to 5 to reduce the cut to Higher Education as follows:

  • Maine Maritime Academy – cut reduced from $228,402 to $128,402;
  • University of Maine System and Maine Community College System – Cut reduced from $6.58 million to $3 million.
  • Senator Hill, Rep. Getchell, John Martin, David Flannigan, George Kerr, Ryan Low, and Sue Charron voted to reduce the cuts to higher education from the original cut of $6.8 million.
  • The Task Force accepted the cut of $46,525 to MPBN.   Sawin Millett is working with Maine emergency Management to assume some of the costs of maintaining emergency broadcasting that is now funded by MPBN.

Other

The Task Force also approved $44,225 of cuts to Maine’s cultural agencies [State Library, State Museum, Me Historic Preservation, the New Century Program, etc.].

The Task Force also approved cuts of $34,383 to Grant agencies and programs, such as

Pine Tree Legal, Centers for Innovation, the Maine Rural Water Association, travel for pupil evaluation team meetings, the Realize Maine Program, the Shelter Operating subsidy,etc.

The Taskforce also approved cuts of $868,680 to other agencies including:

  • The International Commerce Trade Center,    ($18,490)
  • The Small Business Entrepreneurship Commission,    ($200,000)
  • The Maine Development Foundation,       ($2,055)
  • The Applied Technology Development Center,       ($6,635)
  • The Maine Technology Institute ,      ($50,908)
  • The Executive Department,      ($16,034)
  • The Department of Labor,    ($177,000)
  • The Attorney General’s Office      ($83,206)
  • The Public Safety Department.    ($159,699)

K-12 Education

The Task Force also accepted a cut of $850,000 to Child Development Services by using the federal standard by which the individualized educational development team, which includes parents of a child in CDS, to make the decision whether the child will remain in CDS or attend Kindergarten at age 5.

The next meeting of the Streamlining Task Force is on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2011 in the Appropriations Committee Room.   The Task Force will review tabled items, including $9.9 million of tabled DHHS initiatives as shown below:

Tabled Cuts

  • DHHS collection of a $2 transaction fee for each wage assigned child support receipts received by Child support Enforcement.  Currently DHHS does not collect this fee, which the federal government has approved.   There may be a legal issue involved in this action.
  • $354,419 of savings from tightening member eligibility provisions, and consolidating independent support services and home-based care.
  • $125,000 of savings from retooling the Independent Housing with Services and Affordable Assisted Living Program through rate standardization,
  • $787,313 of savings from limiting for a 2-year period members receiving suboxone treatment of opioid dependence.   There may be costs associated with Methadone treatment as an alternative.
  • $2.45 of cuts to Head Start, which receives $28 million of federal funds and $1.3 million of funding from the Fund for a Healthy Maine, and
  • $4.186 million of savings by eliminating funding for the Wrap-Around ME Program that serves youth transitioning from residential treatment or corrections to the community.

It should be noted that “Maine Today Media” has editorialized against the $787,313 of cuts to the drug addiction program by limiting to 2 years the amount of time that addicts can be treated with suboxone.   In addition there has been negative feedback in regard to cuts to Head Start, the Wraparound Me Program, school-based health centers, and the Maine Youth Action Network.

It should also be noted that Representative Martin proposed that tax credits for business should be evaluated and subject to cuts for those credits that are not effective or cannot be proved to be effective with respect to business growth and expansion.   None of these tax credits are on the chopping block.