By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Because it has cut its fiscal year 2012 budget beyond Rowan County’s required amount, the social services department is asking the county for some new positions and funding.
The Rowan County Department of Social Services approved a budget Tuesday that will be sent to county commissioners for approval. The county funding in the department’s continuation budget was reduced by $263,032 to about $7.4 million.
“The goal was to reduce the budget by $200,579,” said Jane Johnson, the department’s budget analyst. “That was the mandate set for us by the finance department as part of their countywide goal. … We found $62,453 more we felt we could give up.”
The department also submitted expansion budget requests for new items totaling $127,475, including three new positions, one expanded position, public assistance for “Share the Warmth” and file room renovations.
The new positions include a food and nutrition services caseworker, a family and children’s Medicaid caseworker and a temporary social worker. In addition, the department’s existing safety officer would be brought on full-time.
Director Sandra Wilkes said the renovation of a file room to convert it to office space, which would cost the county about $54,000, is not an immediate need.
“You may choose for us not to include it in our budget for this year,” Wilkes said, “but we want to make you aware when we do need additional space — in another three or four years, perhaps — you will have an idea of what the cost would be at this time.”
County Commissioner Jim Sides, who is a voting member of the board, made a motion to approve the department’s budget request with the exception of that item, bringing the total for new items to $73,773.
“If you subtract the $62,000 from the extra found in the continuation budget, there would only be about $12,000 county dollars needed for expansion items,” Johnson said.
Sides also praised the department’s imaging project, which emptied the file room as physical records were digitized. He said it has saved the department space, time and effort by making records more manageable.
“Something that seemed like an enormous cost up front has really been a benefit to us,” Sides said, adding that other places in the county will be using the technology as well.
The total fiscal year 2012 budget for social services is $231.3 million. The department identified about $1.5 million in reductions needed for the next budget year, including $1.066 million in expected cuts to federal and state revenues.
Work First emergency assistance and state-funded child day care subsidy payments will be reduced. The department also expects to spend less on special assistance, adoption cash and vendor payments according to projected need. Many other items were reduced due to lost funding, cost reductions or non-recurring expenses.
Board member John Blair complimented department staff on their work.
“I think you all have done a very good job as usual,” Blair said. “I know what hard work it is to do one of these and think through the various possibilities.”
Other board members in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting were Ruth Kennerly, Board Chair Lillian Morgan and County Commissioner Carl Ford.

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In other business
The Board of Social Services also:
• Received a report from Gary Price, director of Rowan Transit Services, on the status of the Medicaid Transportation program.
He said the county no longer reimburses about 70 individuals for transportation to the McLeod Center methodone clinic in Concord. Instead, it is working with RTS resources and local taxicab companies to provide transportation for them, in order to reduce excess costs and the risk of fraud.
• Heard about the upcoming Pinwheels for Prevention program at 10 a.m. on April 1. In North Carolina, April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
A pinwheel garden will be planted at the Rowan County Department of Social Services to celebrate happy, healthy childhoods. The children’s choir from Partners in Learning will perform.
• Heard a comment from county resident Robert Boone suggesting that DSS start a program for the families of prisoners in Rowan County.
Later, Budget Analyst Jane Johnson said this is a good idea, but the department is limited by the money it receives and the cost of its mandated programs.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.