Arlington County Announces Welfare Program Cuts
Today’s Washington Post and the online Arlington Sun-Gazette report that Arlington County Manager Ron Carlee announced a preliminary plan to control welfare spending. It responds to reports in July that the county's LPACAP methodology had run afoul of federal auditors. We growled most recently about this on July 13, 2006.
According to the Post’s Annie Gowen, “Arlington County is planning to slash 30 jobs and make cuts in about 40 human service programs to cover a $7.5 million budget shortfall, officials said yesterday. The far-ranging service cuts would affect such key programs as housing for the mentally disabled, prescription drugs for seniors, mental health counseling and nutrition services. Longer waiting lists and heavier caseloads for social workers are likely, officials said.” The Sun-Gazette adds, “The loss of the grant funding might have been absorbable in past years, when the county government had plenty of tax dollars flowing in from the booming real estate market. But the market has cooled substantially this year, and is likely to result in little growth in real estate tax revenue in the coming year.”
The county press release, announcing the cuts, is here, and the Manager’s 17-page memo to the Board detailing the plan is here (Adobe required).
-