Page 6 - Work Force March 2021

Where will they get help?
Children’s mental health services to be cut as need grows
Continued from page 5.
their well-being, to be visited by their family,” Stuckey said.
In Western New York, CSEA members are stymied over the justification for the cuts.
“The proposal to
reduce the number
of inpatient beds
by 56 percent at
the Western New
York Children’s
Psychiatric
Center in West
Seneca is totally
unacceptable,” said
CSEA Western New
York Children’s Psychiatric Center Local President Colleen Hosie. “We
are still in the middle of a pandemic and the need for mental health services is skyrocketing. Eliminating beds at this time is counterintuitive — and will devastate families who deserve quality mental health services.”
Suicide rates rising in children with mental health issues Putting these cuts into horrifying
perspective is an alarming rise in suicides being seen throughout the country, likely due to the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase in pediatric mental health- related visits to hospital emergency rooms from April to October 2020. National Public Radio recently
reported that many suicidal children have shown up in hospital ERs, and more kids are needing inpatient care after serious suicide attempts.
Unfortunately, there is already a lack of treatment options for children with mental health issues. The disruptions of in-person services that they may have previously relied on
in their communities or at school, and the isolation from others during the pandemic has only worsened the situation.
“New York can’t turn its back on children struggling with serious mental health issues,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. We cannot afford to lose children to suicide because they didn’t have available treatment options.”
Members lobby against cuts
CSEA members throughout the state have been holding online meetings with state legislators to push back against the OMH cuts. A bipartisan coalition of legislators in CSEA’s Southern Region recently joined CSEA activists in publicly opposing the Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center closure.
CSEA members can join the union’s efforts advocating against the mental health cuts by going to our online Legislative Action Center at https://cseany.org/issues and taking action.
— Jessica Ladlee, Wendi Bowie, Nicholas Newcomb and Ove Overmyer
Hosie
State budget also devastates local governments
The proposed state budget includes cuts that are devastating to local governments across the state that have already been struggling to balance their budgets.
The budget would eliminate state Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding to towns and villages and cut county support to these municipalities by 20 percent. This proposal would also
reduce AIM aid to
cities, with some
receiving a significant
cut. The spending plan
also eliminates funding
to most localities that
host a Video Lottery
Terminal (VLT) facility.
Many local governments have already been dealing with fiscal strife between years of flat AIM funding, the state’s ongoing property tax cap and a cost shift that put much of the aid burden on counties and sales tax collections that resulted in the loss of aid for many municipalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also
added to the fiscal woes, as local government coffers were depleted from responding to the pandemic. In 2020, local sales tax collections dropped by $1.8 billion, or 10 percent, due to shutdowns and high unemployment rates.
Additional cuts to local governments could not only lead to tax increases, but could cut
vital local services, including many that are provided by CSEA members who are already doing more with less.
Throughout the pandemic, CSEA members employed by
local governments have continued
to provide essential services to
our communities, including first response, health care, highway and infrastructure maintenance, public works and parks. Our communities can’t afford these cuts when they need public services more than ever.
“Any loss of funding would be
devastating to my
town and would
force drastic cuts
affecting public
safety, youth
services, and
other programs
and services,” said
CSEA member Mike
Irving, a Monroe
County Water
Authority employee who lives in the Town of Irondequoit. “My local community can’t afford something like this. Not now — not ever.”
operator at the Highway Department, also said the town has a reputation as one of the best local governments for public services, especially when it comes to refuse collection, road maintenance and wonderful parks and recreation facilities.
“If the town doesn’t receive state aid, something will have to go,” said Cummins. “There is no way we can continue to provide the level
of services with a fractured budget. You would have to expect some delays in filling potholes, garbage pick-up and perhaps closing the town pool or reducing hours. The only other solution would be to raise property taxes, increase fees and I’m sure no one wants that to happen.”
To learn more about what you
can do, visit CSEA’s Legislative Action Center at https://cseany.org/ issues. Members are also urged to call their legislators at (877) 255-9417 and tell them “Don’t cut aid to my community.”
— Ove Overmyer
6 The Work Force
March 2021
“There is no way we can continue to provide the level of services with a fractured budget.”
CSEA Town of West Seneca Unit President Brian Cummins, who
has worked for the town for 36 years and is a lifelong town resident,
said residents
take great pride in the services town employees provide.
Cummins
Irving
Cummins, a heavy equipment