A 25 percent reduction in the budget for work-force development programs run by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce may save county coffers a little money in the short term, but will haunt the county in long term, say program advocates. They say taxpayers would incur additional expenses and clients would suffer potentially wasted opportunities to turn around their lives, while businesses would lose a source for trained workers.
The Workforce Development Department currently has a budget of $395,000 annually, a figure that has stayed constant for the last two years, but if the cuts proposed by Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus are adopted, $96,225 would be cut from the budget, resulting in the loss of two full-time employees from a staff of five at the program and result in an indeterminate reduction in clients being placed in jobs programs.
“Pretty much all contract agencies are being cut to some extent, but it”™s difficult to understand the cuts they propose from the various programs,” said Audra Gerty, chamber executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Gerty said while she understands there are budget concerns, the loss of two employees will start creating additional expenses for social services, even aside from the loss of opportunity.
The Workforce Development Program serves an average of 125 clients annually, at an average cost of $3,200 per client. The cost of keeping a person on social services is many times that amount and varies depending on whether the county is providing housing, food, transportation and medical support.
The county has funded the program since 1996 and in those years it has developed into three distinct aspects: The Work Now Employment Mentoring assists eligible adults with finding and retaining employment; the Responsible Parent Initiative assists families in achieving a stable household; and Youth Employment Services, helps young adults ages 14 to 20 stay in school, or obtain their GED, develop job skills and ultimately become employed.
So far this year, the program has already placed 104 people into jobs:Â 76 adults, 18 teens and 10 adults with extreme barriers. A reduction in job placement funding will mean increased costs in other social welfare programs. And Gerty said that the benefits accrue not only to clients but to small businesses which get motivated employees who have undergone training to help them hit the ground running, and don”™t incur the expenses of seeking employees through ads or other normal means.
“It”™s helpful to know you can go to the Chamber”™s Workforce Development Department when you need employees,” said John Ruhland, of Red Cap Cleaners, with four locations in Poughkeepsie. “They make it easy.” The development staff do the screening and place employees in positions they are qualified for, reducing the risk of hiring and providing a worker who is ready from day one.
Another success story involves LCS Facility Group, which now employs Tamikra Ross, 31, a single mother with two children. She was residing in a homeless shelter with her children when she was connected with Workforce Development and trained for employment and received help finding an apartment near her job and childcare while she was at work. “They helped me out a lot and they help a lot of people who can”™t find jobs,” Ross said.
Training youth for future success is another aspect of the program. “It was nice to teach someone and they were so happy to learn,” said Jamie Nardone, of Eagle Riverview Group, commercial real estate and management, in Poughkeepsie, who helped an intern develop workplace skills all summer as part of a Youth Employment Service arrangement. At first, she said the intern was quiet and reserved but as her skills increased so did her confidence. “This girl had no clue about working in an office, but toward the end she was brave enough to start asking me a lot of questions.”
Nardone said impressive as the gains made by clients are, the commitment of the staff of the Workforce Development Department is just as important. “They really, really care about helping people,” she said.
“State mandates dictated by Albany lawmakers have drained away the money we would all prefer to be used for important local programs, but the painful reality is there is not enough money left after the mandates to pay for everything, and I will not ask property taxpayers for more,” Steinhaus said. “The only way through these difficult financial times is to cut spending and cap property taxes by freezing the levy for our strapped homeowners and businesses.”
