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SFY 12 Budget Recommendations to DHS Council

DHS Director Charlie Krogmeier has submitted the Department’s funding recommendation for SFY 12 to the Council on Human Services which will review and make a final recommendation to the Governor at their September meeting.  The document is available at the following link:  http://www.dhs.state.ia.us/Partners/Reports/BudgetReports/Budgets.html

A couple of highlights from the accompany letter:

Although the impact of the sputtering economy continues to drive high demand for services, we are beginning to see a slowing of the growth.  Across the Department, 605 staff took advantage of the recent State Employees Retirement Incentive Program (SERIP); just 300 of the resulting vacant positions have been approved to refill.  SERIP, along with the Department’s recent reorganization have reduced staffing across the agency by over 650 positions.  The challenge is to maintain the capacity to provide quality services and assure safety with a much smaller work force.  Our budget request sustains current service delivery.   

Also significant on the SFY 12 funding request is the effect of shifting funding sources.  In SFY 11, Federal funds available for many of our programs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and State dollars from one-time sources were effective in minimizing the impact of declining state revenues and avoiding painful cuts to service and service delivery.  To avoid a significant disruption in services, we have therefore assumed restoration of both in our SFY 12 recommendation. 

We remain committed to the work of the Department and the critical roles it plays in the lives of Iowans.  The proposed budget requests adequate funding to continue those efforts.  We looking forward to working with the Council and policy makers on this important part of the State of Iowa’s budget for SFY 12.

Please watch the website for updates and Coalition’s analysis and response. 

Update on Supreme Court Decision impacting the Central Child Abuse Registry

In July, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the state wrongly placed an Iowa City mother on the state's child abuse registry. The Iowa Attorney General's Office concluded the ruling could force the state to remove more than 25,000 other Iowans from the list, too. That concerned the Iowa Department of Human Services, which maintains the registry.

So the state asked the court to rehear the case. The court said no, but amended the ruling to clarify the impact.  Click on the following link to find an update on the Supreme Court decision impacting the Central Child Abuse Registry. http://www.iowacourts.gov/Supreme_Court/Recent_Opinions/20100709/09-0716.pdf 

Click HERE to read the DHS overview of how DHS plans on addressing the decision