County facing new unfunded mandate

Inside Hillside are a few dozen troubled kids the county is watching over. "It certainly is very clear that many of the family situations that they come from are very difficult situations," said Mike Doran, Hillside's residential director. And up to 78 of them are cared for at taxpayer cost of almost 300 dollars per child per day. This year, the governor says his budget is too tight to continue to pick up half of the nine million dollar yearly tab. Suddenly, the county could be on the hook for every penny.

"Now, we're back in deficit position because of the actions proposed in the state budget," said Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive.

The county has two choices. Either take the money from other programs, or, go to the taxpayers.

Here, at Hillside, the cuts may force them to eventually reduce the number of children they care for. "The intention isn't to cut off services to children, it's to change the direction those services are moving in," Doran said. Indeed, the governor's office says "It's our hope that this action will offer incentives to counties to provide less costly community-based alternatives where appropriate." "This action will offer incentives to counties to provide less costly community-based alternatives where appropriate," Hillside agrees kids do better when they're cared for from a distance and not in custody. But a top county justice official says he's concerned about the smaller proposed detention budget. For the county exec, it's nothing new from albany. "This is another example of the state providing a mandate, but not providing the revenue to pay for it," Brooks said. Hillside says it will meet with the county next week to figure out what to do next.