Thousands restored to Human Services Human Services Committee reinstates funding for several nonprofits By Sarah Riley News-Chronicle For blocks around the Neville Public Museum on Thursday night, the streets were lined with cars carrying people hoping to persuade Brown County supervisors to restore funding for their programs of interest. Many of their efforts were successful. In the first five hours of the marathon meeting, hundreds of thousands of dollars were voted back into the budget by the Human Services Committee. Community members packed the Neville's 150-seat theater and about 80 more waited in the hall outside. As of 9:30 p.m., funding for many nonmandated human services programs was put back into the budget, which was presented by County Executive Carol Kelso earlier this month. The full County Board has to approve the entire budget. The restored funding: - Bringing the emergency services fund in the Veterans Services Department up to $18,000 from a proposed $11,000 - Adding a full-time receptionist to the Veterans Services office - Eliminating a proposed half-time cut to the Veterans Services office - Adding $24,106 to the Aging Resource Board budget for a part-time nutrition outreach worker. This position was inadvertently omitted from the budget - $75,000 toward parenting assistance for developmentally disabled parents - $31,000 toward the Citizen Advocacy, a program that matches volunteers with developmentally disabled people - $175,000 for the YWCA Teen Parenting program, with stipulations that organizers look for alternative funding and require teen mothers to at least begin to establish paternity - $40,500 for Family Services' sexual-abuse treatment program - $30,000 for Family Services' Health Families program The board did not even begin discussing proposed cuts to the Mental Health Center until late in the evening. "I cannot believe we would not fund youth, disabled and vets and (pay for) yachts," said Sup. Rick Schadewald, referring to Kelso's proposed $500,000 riverfront development project. Kelso and Tammy Snortum, who helped prepare the budget for the Human Services Department, have said the goal of the budget was to return to the county's core services. Kelso charged each department to turn in a 2004 budget that was smaller than last year's. At the budget hearing Thursday, directors of nonprofit programs that stand to lose funding spoke, as well as program participants. They answered questions about their programs and their other sources of funding. "Don't clean the county's house on the backs of the nonprofits," said Ted Phernetton, executive director of Cerebral Palsy Inc. He spoke against the proposed cuts to day services. Kelso proposed that instead of contracting out with nonprofits that provide programs like Positive Parenting, residents who meet certain need requirements would be served by state fund-matching programs. Joan Daniel, finance director for Human Services, said the county was in negotiations with the state to determine how many county residents could be served by the programs. The county will know by the end of the year. Supervisors engaged attendees in a lengthy discussion about the YWCA Teen Parenting program. Advocates said no teen parent programs are duplicated in the community and that the Y works with areas school with teen parenting programs. Kelso has said teen parent education is a mandate of the schools. "The YWCA Teen Parenting is a unique program in Brown County," said local YWCA executive director Patty Payette. The program serves about 250-300 teen moms. Its budget is $250,000.