DuPage County braces for more cuts

As DuPage County department heads prepare their 2008 budgets, there's fear that more funding cuts similar to ones made this year could be devastating.

Health and Human Services Committee members looked at spending reports from the county's community services department and DuPage Convalescent Center Tuesday.

Twenty people were laid off from the convalescent center in January as the facility, which serves seniors, shrunk its expenditures from $33 million in 2006 to $29.5 million in 2007 as a result of a overall county budget shortfall.

Convalescent center Administrator Beth Welch said 2007 revenues included a $2 million subsidy from the county, but most of its funding comes from patients.

"We are a revenue-generating enterprise," Welch said.

The center is receiving about $21.6 million from Medicaid and Medicare and $6.6 million from patients' private insurance plans this year. But Medicaid reimburses less than the actual amount spent per patient, staff explained, projecting a shortfall in 2008.

Welch said the facility was able to weather staff decreases in 2007, but if more cuts are required, it will be detrimental to services.

"I'm concerned," board member Robert Schroeder said. "Last year, the convalescent center took the greatest hits in personnel."

The center has 360 beds and runs at 90 percent occupancy.

Schroeder also is seeking to beef up funding for Access DuPage, a program that connects uninsured people with free medical care, and a community mental health program that were both slashed.

"All I know is health services dollars save dollars. It's cutting your nose to spite your face," Schroeder said.

The county went from a budget of about $482 million in 2006 to a $470 million spending plan in 2007.

While board members are studying ways to get a new revenue source, such as home rule powers, they've yet to reach a consensus.