Chattanooga: Buyouts reduce services

NASHVILLE -- Tennessee felons will have fewer probation and parole officers to oversee them, deaf and blind students will have fewer state teachers, and there will be fewer workers and beds at Chattanooga's Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute under Gov. Phil Bredesen's voluntary employee buyout program.

Gov. Bredesen has stressed that the buyouts, intended to save money because of flagging state revenues, largely were intended to "focus on middle management" and administrative slots.

But a Chattanooga Times Free Press analysis of buyout figures and departmental business justifications for reductions shows a number of front-line areas and services they provide will be affected by the buyouts.

A total of 1,521 employees have been approved for the buyouts, and their departure annually will save the state $42.7 million, part of a total plan to slash state spending by $468 million.

Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said departments were asked to reorganize and find more efficient ways of conducting business and, as much as possible, avoid any impact on services. The decisions were up to department heads, he said, but the elimination of positions is intended to be permanent.

"We didn't have a choice but to make some kind of reductions," the commissioner said. "You have fewer services as a result sometimes. You can't do this without having some impact when you're dealing with filled positions."

There are concerns, meanwhile, about reductions in the state's Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. The department accepted buyouts from 61 employees at its five mental health institutes. Eighty-seven beds also are being cut statewide.

At Moccasin Bend, buyouts for 22 employees were approved. Twenty-two beds also are being eliminated, dropping from 172 to 150 -- a 12.7 percent cut in space available for mentally ill patients.

As part of the changes, the facility's Winston Building, which houses long-term mentally ill patients, is being shut down. Its patients are being transferred to Moccasin Bend's newly renovated Main Building, where short-term patients are housed.

State Mental Health Department spokeswoman Jill Hudson said officials long have intended to eliminate the Winston Building to "be more efficient." Housing long-term and short-term patients in the same building will be "extremely safe," Ms. Hudson said. "One of the things they upgraded for was security."

She noted that the $2.7 million renovation of the Main Building created six "state-of-the-art" patient care units. Cutting the total number of beds from 172 to 150 makes sense with daily censuses showing the number of patients below that figure, she said. Projected savings are pegged at $1.3 million a year, Ms. Hudson said.

Bed reductions at Moccasin Bend and other institutes are a concern to Sita Diehl, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Tennessee.

"The only thing that gave me comfort about reducing the beds at the mental health institutes was the establishment and ongoing support of the crisis stabilization units in the community," Ms. Diehl said.

Such units, located throughout the state, help provide emergency responses for people experiencing major problems.

In the state's Board of Probation and Paroles, meanwhile, officials accepted 39 probation/parole officers' applications for buyouts. That, according to the board, will kick up the average number of felons monitored by remaining officers from 92 to 100 -- an 8.6 percent increase.

"We'll adjust to the current situation, and we'll continue to operate with public safety in the forefront of all that we do, with all of our work and services," said Jack Elder, a spokesman for the board.

"Everybody will be supervised, but we are looking at some ways to handle the minimum security offenders in some different ways and concentrate more on the violent and serious offenders," Mr. Elder said.

Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, a Bradley County Sheriff's Department lieutenant in charge of the judicial services division, said he is "very concerned."

"What it's going to do, in my opinion, it's going to reduce the supervision of criminals, and it's going to allow criminals to get away with more stuff because they (officers) are not going to be able to supervise like the way they do now," he said.

Other buyouts include:

* Seven youth service workers, including a supervisor, at the Tennessee School for the Blind, operated by the state Department of Education. Another six youth service workers, which include two supervisors, at the West Tennessee School for the Deaf. One youth service worker at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Middle Tennessee.

* Waiting on the phone to get a response from a Tennessee Department of Safety driver's license call center could get longer with five call-center positions being eliminated.

In its business justification documents submitted for the buyout, the Safety Department warned "there will be delays in processing phone calls and technical assistance."

“We’ll adjust to the current situation, and we’ll continue to operate with public safety in the forefront of all that we do, with all of our work and services,” said Jack Elder, a spokesman for the board.

“Everybody will be supervised, but we are looking at some ways to handle the minimum security offenders in some different ways and concentrate more on the violent and serious offenders,” Mr. Elder said.

Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, a Bradley County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant in charge of the judicial services division, said he is “very concerned.”

“What it’s going to do, in my opinion, it’s going to reduce the supervision of criminals, and it’s going to allow criminals to get away with more stuff because they (officers) are not going to be able to supervise like the way they do now,” he said.

Other buyouts include:

* Seven youth service workers, including a supervisor, at the Tennessee School for the Blind, operated by the state Department of Education. Another six youth service workers, which include two supervisors, at the West Tennessee School for the Deaf. One youth service worker at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Middle Tennessee.

* Waiting on the phone to get a response from a Tennessee Department of Safety driver’s license call center could get longer with five call-center positions being eliminated.

In its business justification documents submitted for the buyout, the Safety Department warned “there will be delays in processing phone calls and technical assistance.”