Perry County Counseling Center Staring at $600,000 Budget Cut

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Whether its political gamesmanship or the state's fiscal collapse, Perry County Counseling Center executive director John Venskus believes the threat of losing $600,000 in state funding is real.

If that happens, Perry County's historic counseling and mental health program will lose half of its staff and half of its programs. It's the same crisis that threatens the loss of $58,650 at the Perry-Jackson County Child Advocacy Center east of Pinckneyville.

Venskus told the newspaper this morning, "We are waiting for a 10:30 a.m. briefing from the governor's office and hope there will be changes to the information we have received to date on what is expected from the Fiscal Year 2010 budget."

"I do not think people are aware of how deep these cuts may be or who will be most affected by them. People who are hardworking, but whose employers do not provide health insurance and who do not make enough to buy their own insurance are the people who will be most affected by the current proposed budget. We are projecting that we serve approximately 150 fewer people a month, and that our wait time will increase significantly," Venskus.

Venskus said alcohol and substance abuse treatment will lose 25 percent of contract funding, or roughly $15,000. This translates to 30-30 fewer people who will be served. The substance abuse program will lose 75 percent of its funding.

Cuts to mental health treatment will be $570,000. "We would not be able to serve anyone who does not have private insurance or medicaid.We would no longer be able to reduce fees based on family income or size. We would have to close half of our supervised residential beds and cut back on our support for people in recovery who live independently," he said.

"In all, we would probably have to lay off 15 or more of our 35 staff, reduce psychiatric time and reduce the number of hours that we are open. Of course, we are hoping that the legislature will realize the pain this will cause for the sickest and poorest among us. We are also asking them to stand up for families who do not have health insurance.