Looming budget cuts to the Blue Heron Vocational Training Centre could carve a deep gorge out of local and regional support for persons with developmental disabilities (PDD).
Approximately 30 per cent of direct services funding to Blue Heron will be cut, and will likely cause between 18 and 20 layoffs, which could cost the local organization one-third of its total PDD support staff.
Arno Birkigt, executive director of Blue Heron Vocational Training, said last week the entire Northeast Region is experiencing financial constraints directly stemming from provincial budget cuts, working out to $8.8 million being cut from the PDD Northeast Region.
Putting that in perspective, “the total direct service budget is approximately $23 million,” said Birkigt.
“It is not possible to provide the same level of service to people that is currently being provided,” said Birkigt. “Without question, many people will get much less service than they currently get, full stop.”
Birkigt said officials he has spoken to have all met him with concern, including MLA Jeff Johnson, Athabasca County manager Gary Buchanan and Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill.
Buchanan was unavailable for comment but Athabasca County councillor Christine Bilsky, who sits on the Blue Heron board, said in a written statement that, “Blue Heron’s services are vital to many people in our community.”
Bilsky said that she is “disappointed in the cuts and very concerned about their impact on those community members.”
She continued, “these cuts will be discussed by council at length as we find out the exact details of how they may impact Blue Heron and the services they offer.”
Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Jeff Johnson confirmed he met with Birkigt “to understand the situation and implications.”
Johnson said he has met with Frank Oberle, MLA for Peace River and the associate minister for PDD, and “will be meeting again with the minister in coming weeks to discuss with him and see what can be done.”
“After meeting with the appropriate community folks, I will be taking the concerns of the community to the minister next week,” said Johnson on Friday.
Morrill said he, too, spoke with Oberle, who in turn spoke “immediately” with his deputy minister.
Morrill said the minister gave him “assurances” that “they very much value Blue Heron, and that they will look to find solutions over this situation”.
Johnson put in a call to Morrill, who later met with him on Friday for further discussion, which was filled with “lots of concern,” and a belief on Morrill’s part that “the provincial government is stepping up to the plate, though, to rectify things.”
“It’s a dual hit. It’s not just the employment situation, it’s the clients,” explained the mayor.
Morrill said he was “very impressed with how quick (Oberle) dealt with things and got back to me,” and that he had faith that there could be “a very sincere possibility of correction here.”
“It’s been disconcerting, but at least we know steps are being looked into,” said Morrill.
Ralph Helder of the Blue Heron Support Services in Barrhead has reportedly indicated that “his organization may be unable to continue their work as a result of these cuts,” according to a May 8 NDP press release.
Birkigt places responsibility for the reductions to a large part on a Support Intensity Scale being rolled in, which is being used to evaluate the level of needs among PDD service providers.
The entire funding model is now based, he said, on the result of a single two-hour-long interview conducted between the service provider and the individual, at which time their “total funding is determined.”
“This is rolling out province-wide as we sit here,” Birkigt continued.
Oberle was unavailable for comment before going to press, but Alberta New Democrat Human Services critic Rachel Notley had a few things she wanted to highlight, in an email sent out to officials.
Notly sits on the Standing Committee on Families and Communities, which in part has an interest in Human Services.
She wrote an email last Wednesday to members of the Alberta Council of Disability Services and SP Council chairs, and in it she laid out the magnitude of the budget cuts.
Notley said that agencies were “reporting cuts ranging from a low of 18 per cent to a high over 50 per cent,” and would translate to about 260 FTE positions that could be cut throughout the Northeast Region.
In addition, this will mean “individual service reductions range from one per cent to 75 per cent for July 1,” according to Notley.
“The seven-per-cent cuts — those are bad enough — but when you have a 30-per-cent cut … you have approximately 60 employees with Blue Heron, so a cut of that magnitude would translate to approximately 20 layoffs,” said Morrill.
“More importantly,” continued the mayor emphatically, “where do the clients of this very necessary service go then?”
“To live within our means, it’s very tough on all sectors,” said Johnson, regarding cuts that were a part of the provincial budget.
