Funding cuts affect Rock County Opportunities

Income for Rock County Opportunities Inc. community-based services has declined more than $60,000 in the year after the state implemented a $20 million reduction in funding.
RCO Executive Director Elizabeth Schear reported the loss to county commissioners at their Sept. 5 meeting.
The reduced disability waiver rate system meant the local program lost $66,000 or 13.8 percent of its normal reimbursement over the past year.
Schear said the client numbers (50) are the same as last year along with the same 93 to 96 percent attendance rate.
“It’s the difference in the (state) rates we are getting,” Schear said as the cause of the budget reduction.
RCO assists adults with developmental and related disabilities to find and maintain employment in their communities or at their center site on West Main Street.
Luverne is not alone, as other centers throughout the state experienced a funding decline as well, she said.
The state recently unveiled three new services that could add funding if adopted locally.
Schear is doubtful a small facility such as Luverne’s will see much financial gain with the added services of exploration, development and support.
“My fear is in a small town like this we may have one or two clients we can provide services in the exploration area, one or two in development and one or two in support,” she said.
“I don’t know how you can support and fund those with one of two clients that you're getting the billing for — $10 a day is not going to support each of those services.”
Schear volunteered the Luverne facility as a pilot location for the three new programs in a statewide study.
“My hope is that I am wrong,” Schear added. “Going through this pilot we’ll see … whether or not we can afford to provide these services. Stuck with no employment we’re just an adult day care.”
 
Exploring the option of operating a day care
Schear is hoping child care for employees could help RCO retain staff.
Besides managing lower reimbursement rates for services from the state, Shear said her organization is short-staffed due to turnover.
“I am on my fourth round of hiring this year alone,” she said.
A year ago, RCO hired three people over a course of a year. In the first nine months of this year, she has hired 10, with a need to hire two or three more.
Reasons for leaving employment at RCO varied, but child day care has been one reason cited with current employees unable to fill early morning shifts or late afternoon, due to day care schedules.
Schear is exploring options.
“The RCO board has allowed Beth to explore options,” said Commissioner Stan Williamson, who serves on the RCO board.
After several months of research Schear has learned the following:
•The current RCO building is large enough to house a day care up to 125 children.
•The current building would need $30,000 in renovations, primarily to add security doors and a security system.
•Operation of a day care is expensive with estimates of parents paying fees two to three times higher than current rates at home-based day care.
•Potential scarcity of teachers due to lower salaries.
•The state of Minnesota has more regulations on how day cares operate than the surrounding states of Iowa and South Dakota.
 “We haven’t gotten to the point where I can say we can pull the trigger (to start a day care) because right now it’s still financially not a good idea,” she said.
“We have to come up with another creative solution and some other partners to make it go.”