Labor Voices

State can no longer cut vital services
Child protection, health care, police and fire services all affected by cuts

T here is a major argument brewing in Michigan about our state's budget and tax revenues. Do we need a tax increase? What is wrong with Michigan's general fund and how did it get that way?

Simply put, our state collects almost one billion dollars less than we need every year. In her first term, Gov. Jennifer Granholm cut about a billion dollars of the budget in each of four years straight! Employment numbers of state workers are now at 1974 levels, even though we have over a million more citizens today. While our recent economic downturn has made matters worse, there can be no disputing that the state has a structural deficit.

More cuts impossible

We just can't cut any more. We may release 10 percent of the older and less risky prison population, to do more puts us at risk of releasing dangerous criminals. We have cut college funding. To do so again makes it too hard for working families' children to pay the increased tuition. We have already cut health insurance for all able-bodied poor people. Further cuts mean harming either children, seniors or the disabled. We have cut revenue sharing to cities for four years and to do it again will mean less police, less firefighters and closed libraries and offices.

Consider these stories, taken straight from our community:

Lisa has 20 years seniority working as a Protective Services (PS) worker in Michigan's child protective services system. Due to early retirements, the state has lost almost half of its PS staff. What's even scarier is the loss of experienced staff in the field. "When dealing with very dysfunctional families you have to know what to ask. Many of the new field staff are often intimidated by the violent drug addicts and abusers we meet every day," said Lisa.

"Caseloads have doubled; it is not unusual for me to get a new case each day. The paperwork requirements are staggering -- if I spend three hours interviewing a child, I then have at least three hours of forms to fill out. The paperwork is interfering with our time in the field actually protecting children." Michigan's caseloads are often twice as high as other states. With over two dozen families to visit, workers are not able to get to each home often enough.

David is a counselor who provides daily care for juveniles held for felony style offenses. These are kids who have failed in private sector facilities and can not be returned to their own homes without support and treatment. Some are dangerous. Cuts to the funding for this program are problematic for several reasons; the facility has recently seen an increase in youth on youth assaults and youth on staff assaults resulting from the lack of necessary programming for these troubled kids. That will result in more criminals in the future at even a higher cost to the taxpayer. Dave himself was unable to work for nine months last year due to a broken shoulder resulting from an assault on him at the facility. Less funds there means less counselors and less safety.

Health care suffers

Denise is a nurse at a central Michigan hospital emergency room. As a "front line worker" in our emergency care system she is seeing people show up in emergency rooms who have had no access to preventative care. More and more women are coming to her emergency room pregnant and in crisis with no history of prenatal care. One in six Michigan residents are now on Medicaid, the majority of them are working with no employer-provided health benefit.

The number of uninsured in the state is climbing while Medicaid is cutting its reimbursement rates to hospitals. Ultimately, the problems stop at the patient, who may have no support system to provide them with post-emergency or follow up care.

While some of these issues may not hit right at home for everyone, we are all affected. Sooner or later all of Michigan will feel the effects of these cuts; today's troubled youth who falls through the cracks becomes tomorrow's violent criminal walking on your street. The overworked emergency room staff could be treating your child while being rushed in a thousand different directions. It could be your house on fire when the fire department is slower to respond.

Michigan cannot afford to cut those services and maintain the quality of life that draws and keeps businesses and citizens to this state. We are faced with difficult choices, but it's time to say that enough cuts are enough. We're already in a deep hole. It's time to stop digging.

We all believe that Michigan must have a competitive business climate as we compete with other states and other countries to attract jobs. But, it is simply incorrect to believe that continued tax cuts for businesses and service cuts for all of us will achieve that goal.