Welfare agencies in Hamilton County plead for funds

photo Chris Brooks, co-founder of Chattanooga Organized for Action.

The way Hamilton County balances its 2012 budget could be a critical factor in whether hundreds of citizens' lives are thrown off-balance, according to panelists from county health and welfare agencies who convened Monday night to discuss cuts to their funding.

"Individuals in our program, because they are the low-income, because they are the most vulnerable - they receive assistance from all the organizations on this panel," said Courtney Chandler, director of the Signal Centers, one of the agencies facing cuts. "If all our agencies are hit ... that safety net they've built up around them has suddenly disappeared. I hate to think about what life is like on the other side of that net."

About 40 people turned out at the Camp House for the forum organized by Chattanooga Organized for Action to hear health and welfare agencies spell out the impact budget cuts would have on their organizations.

Hamilton County health and welfare agencies stand to lose a total of over $2 million in county budget cuts made after a 45-year-old sales tax agreement between the city and county expired last month.

The agreement spelled out how the city and the county broke down financial responsibilities for agencies jointly funded by the pair. The county now has to make up for $10.3 million - its former share of sales tax revenue - in layoffs and steep budget cuts.

"Budgets are moral documents that reflect the values and priorities of the citizens, and as it stands now the budget cuts to agencies that provide essential services, that's not reflecting citizens' priorities," said Chris Brooks, co-founder of Chattanooga Organized for Action.

Chattanooga City Council members Manny Rico and Deborah Scott were at the forum, but no one from the Hamilton County Commission attended - though Brooks said they were all invited.

The seven panelists at the forum included Veliska Thomas, a social work professor from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Brother Ron Fender from the Chattanooga Community Kitchen; and leaders from the AIM Center, Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter, the Signal Centers and the Hearing and Speech Center, all of whom were told by the county this spring that they would be cut off from funding.

"If the county doesn't come through with their portion of this, the people we serve will suffer the most ... but the community will bear the greatest cost. And it will be conferred and compounded, mark my word," said Howell Hathorne, president of the Speech and Hearing Center.

During the forum Brooks questioned Scott why the City Council wasn't funneling at least part of the $7 million previously allocated to fund joint agencies toward the health and wellness agencies facing severe cuts from the county.

"I just don't see how two wrongs make a right," Brooks said.

Scott responded by saying that Chattanooga already spends $20,000,000 on agencies - more than any other city in the county.

"We're only half of Hamilton County. And the question is, where is the rest of Hamilton County?" she asked.

All of the panelists said if the cuts happen their doors will stay open, but they would have to place drastic restrictions on who they are able to serve.

"For the last few months we've had to start turning away people who don't have insurance. And all of us are losing sleep over that," said Ashley Evans, AIM Center development director. "We thought that was a very temporary thing. ... But if we're being cut in funds, we're not sure that's going to be the case."

She said about 14,000 AIM Center members were uninsured.

Hathorne said if the Speech and Hearing Center loses its county funding, the center likely will be forced to turn away people with speech and hearing problems who don't live in Chattanooga. Over half of the center's clients come from outside the city, he said.

"In my 45 years at the center, we've never had to turn anyone away. And now its actually look like we'll have to," he said.

Contact staff writer Kate Harrison at kharrison@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.

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