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Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Worrell fingers predecessor's ‘misuse of funds' for Orange state attorney's budget shortfall
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office is grappling with an $849,000 budget shortfall, and State Attorney Monique Worrell on Monday blamed part of the problem on a 'misuse of funds' by her predecessor. Most of the deficit, Worrell said, comes from the loss of a $500,000 federal grant for victim advocates under the federal Victims of Crimes Act, which had its funding cut by Congress last year. But Worrell also criticized what she called mismanagement by her predecessor Andrew Bain, ranging from hefty exit payouts for top officials to 'irresponsible financial decisions' regarding his own criminal justice initiatives. She said the office will undergo an audit to rectify how it was managed in the past and reveal ways to spend funds more efficiently in the future. 'Rather than functioning the way the office has functioned for the last 40 years, what are some efficiencies that we can use?' Worrell said. 'Are there things that we can do better so that we are using every dollar to its best and highest use? That's what I'm after at this point.' As the region's top prosecutor, Worrell has in recent weeks trumpeted the need to address her office's funding issues, which she says has led to prosecutors being stretched thin amid rising caseloads. But Monday's press conference was her most detailed description of the deficit she says she inherited following her election victory over Bain, forcing her to go without filling key administrative roles, including a chief of staff and a fulltime public information officer. It is also her clearest rebuke of Bain, who spent 17 months in office after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Worrell in 2023 and appointed him to replace her. 'The interim administration just compounded that problem and made it worse,' Worrell said. 'But it was it was always a problem and it will continue to be a problem until our circuit is funded at the level that it should be for the number of cases that we're processing on an annual basis.' Central to Worrell's claims was the nearly $93,000 payout of unused annual leave to outgoing officials ahead of her return. Two of Bain's top brass, Chief Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams and Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Jamie McManus, received a combined amount just over $70,000, according to figures released by Worrell's office. Williams and McManus served just 16 months as Bain's No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, but 9th circuit policy required them to work two years in the circuit before they qualified for the payout. As for Bain's supposed reckless spending, Worrell pointed to a $30,000 debt owed to the University of Central Florida for Bain's 'Turning Pages' program, a literacy initiative aimed at youth in the criminal justice system and taught by graduate students. Another $67,000 was said to have been given to The Levitt Group, a consulting firm Worrell said specializes in airport concessions that was paid to offer 'criminal justice advice.' Additionally, Worrell said Bain spent $9,800 on tablet computers from the Figgers Foundation, run by DeSantis donor Freddie Figgers, 'despite the office staff advising the administration' that cheaper tablets of good quality could be purchased on Amazon. It's not clear what the tablets were for. UCF did not respond to a message seeking comment. But Jeremy Levitt, president and CEO for The Levitt Group, called Worrell's criticism 'rubbish,' saying airport concessions is but one part of a company that has 'consulted all over the world.' Levitt said he served as Bain's senior criminal justice advisor at a 'heavily discounted rate,' consulting on topics like police deescalation training and hate crimes. He said he led a charge for the office to receive a $1 million federal grant to create a hate crimes task force, calling it 'a damn good return on your money.' An assistant for Bain, since picked by DeSantis for a judgeship in Orange County, did not immediately respond to Worrell's remarks about his handling of the office. Worrell, however, pledged she is 'not going to use the resources of this office to investigate my predecessor.' 'This office's primary function isn't investigating crime, it's prosecuting it,' she said. The State Attorney's Office's finances have been the subject of controversy in recent weeks, centered around a massive backlog of cases with too few prosecutors and support staff to clear them. Florida's attorney general has sent prosecutors to tackle the 13,000-case backlog since the issue was first acknowledged, but Worrell has said that's a temporary fix and implemented a policy limiting the review of so-called 'non-arrest' cases as a way to address it. As of Friday, the additional prosecutors have processed about 100 nonarrest cases since their arrival, though their work has been interrupted by the departure of their supervisor, Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox. Cox, who helped forge an assistance pact with Worrell, was recently hired to be chief assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County. 'For this budget year, there's no getting back on track — the damage is already done,' Worrell said. 'What we have done is we've gone to [Justice Administrative Commission] to ask for more authority to spend more money. That's going to help us get out of this hole, but part of the problem is that we were always underfunded.'
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Memphis domestic violence center abruptly closes amid statewide fight for victim funding
An attendee looks at a series of banners for National Crime Victims' Rights Week Candlelight Vigil on the National Mall on April 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime held the event to pay tribute to victims and survivors of crime and individuals who provide service and support. (Photo by) A Memphis domestic violence agency has abruptly closed its doors amid an urgent fight for state funding by victim-serving organizations in Tennessee. The Family Safety Center of Memphis and Shelby County shut down without warning or public explanation last week. The agency served as a 'one-stop shop' for victims of domestic violence, aiding victims in obtaining orders of protection in coordination with police and the District Attorney's office, and connecting families to housing, food and other resources. Its sudden closure has left a web of agencies that worked together to address domestic violence scrambling, said Marqulepta Odom, executive director of the YWCA Greater Memphis. 'We were all caught off guard by its closing in the middle of the week like that,' said Odom, whose agency operates a 78-bed domestic violence shelter, the largest in the state. Odom said the closure will have a 'great impact and a loss for our community for sure. It was that central place that survivors and victims knew where to go.' But Odom's agency — like victim-serving agencies across Tennessee this year — also faces an uncertain funding future: federal funding for victims of crime in Tennessee has dwindled in recent years from a peak of $68 million in 2018 to $16 million last year. The YWCA Greater Memphis experienced a 17% percent cut last year as a result and faces the prospect of crippling budget cuts this year if it cannot find a way to replace the lost federal dollars. Agencies that operate crisis hotlines, provide counseling to child abuse victims, conduct sexual assault exams and operate shelters are facing additional cuts in federal funding up to 40% more come July. Those ongoing cuts in federal dollars had already hit the Family Safety Center hard before it closed its doors. The agency received $742,000 in federal crime victim funding in 2020, according to the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs (OCJP), which distributes the federal funding to Tennessee nonprofits. This year, that funding had dwindled to about $132,000. The OCJP got notice March 6 that the Family Safety Center had shuttered the previous day. Ethel Hilliard, the center's executive director, 'stated that the closure was due to a board decision related to financial issues,' a spokesperson for the OCJP said. The most recent available tax records show the agency operated at a deficit in 2021 and 2022, when it reported a $289,000 deficit. Like other agencies funded through the federal Victims of Crimes Act, it faced steep cuts again in July. Tennessee victim-serving agencies warn cuts will be 'catastrophic' if Gov. Bill Lee fails to act And while 35 other states have taken action to provide their own state funding in the face of federal crime victim budget cuts, Tennessee is not one of them. Stephen Woerner, executive director of Tennessee Children's Advocacy Centers, said the Memphis agency's closure illustrates the vulnerability of agencies that aid victims of abuse. 'I do not know the details of why they closed, but it speaks to the fragility of the victim serving community, particularly those that have not truly invested in diversifying their funding,' Woerner said. Woerner's organization operates 46 centers across the state that employ specialized counselors who work with children who have been abused, neglected or sexually assaulted. The organization received $5.5 million annually from the federal crime victims fund at its peak; this year, it received $2.1 million, he said. Woerner is among hundreds of advocates across the state who are pressing Gov. Bill Lee to include $25 million in recurring state funding to crime victim agencies in the state's budget. Thus far, Lee has not committed. Lee's office did not respond to a question about the funding on Friday. Leaders of the Family Safety Center in Memphis have made no public statements about the reasons behind the closure and Ethele Hilliard, executive director, did not respond to emailed questions from the Lookout. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rutherford County domestic violence services could face devastating cuts
RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Advocates for survivors of domestic violence in Middle Tennessee fear they could soon face cuts to staff and services. Organizations have requested Governor Bill Lee step in with $25 million in recurring funding. Ericka Downing is the executive director for the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center in Murfreesboro. She estimated the organization will see a roughly 40% reduction in funding due to federal cuts on 'Victims of Crimes Act,' funding. That could mean a $250,000 to $350,000 hit to the organization's budget. Downing said that reduction will have a direct impact on the roughly 3,600 survivors her organization serves each year. RELATED: Push for TN funds to be dedicated to domestic violence survivors 'Rutherford County already does see a huge crime rate for domestic violence,' Downing said. 'Domestic violence and sexual assault are also under-reported.' The center has taken on nearly 300 new cases over the past two years. 'Removing those services from the county and reducing those services that may be available to survivors is going to be to the detriment of our county,' Downing said. Downing said the 40% cut could mean fewer emergency shelter beds, counseling waitlists going from a one-month wait to a three- or four-month wait, and cuts to staff who provide services such as rape exams and emergency order of protection filing. VOCA funding cuts will impact not only the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center, but other victim services, such as organizations that offer human trafficking and child abuse services. The Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Center is one of multiple organizations across the state asking Governor Bill Lee for $25 million in recurring funding to help stay afloat. 'We are available 24/7, but if we don't have the funding to support, we have to really analyze and figure out what we're going to cut,' Downing explained. 'It's very hard to look someone in the eye and tell them that you can't help them because you don't have the funding in order to do it.' READ MORE | Latest headlines from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Downing said much of the staff at the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center are survivors themselves and feel called to the work that they do. She added that their emergency shelter is especially critical to have open the moment a victim is ready to seek help. The Tennessee Victim Service Providers Alliance asks the public to contact their state lawmakers and urge them to support adding the requested $25 million to the Governor's supplemental budget, set to be released at the end of March. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health care providers push for cost-of-living adjustments, against new taxes in two-year budget plan
The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee crafts the budget proposal to be sent to the full Legislature for consideration. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) With much of Gov. Janet Mills' two-year budget proposal to close a projected $450 deficit focused on cuts and taxes related to health programs, public hearings last week on those sections saw sizable pushback from health care providers and parents of children with disabilities. In particular, objections centered on the governor's proposed taxes on ambulance services and pharmacies and cuts to mental health supports, as well as an item left out of her plan: expected cost-of-living adjustments for health care providers, a decision those testifying and lawmakers argue is illegal. A snow storm last week postponed the final hearing for health-related initiatives to Feb. 24, when the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which sets the budget, and the Health and Human Services Committee are slated to hear from the public about social services, including General Assistance, which helps municipalities pay for basic necessities for those who can't afford them. Cost-of-living adjustments and General Assistance have already proven to be contentious issues in negotiations for the more pressing change package to address a Medicaid funding shortfall in the current fiscal year. Lawmakers also heard from the public last week about proposals for the two-year budget related to the judiciary, particularly the need to sufficiently fund indigent defense and the Victims of Crimes Act. Click on the section to jump ahead to coverage of individual budget hearings: Cost-of-living adjustments Taxes Mental health Judiciary Darryl Wood, the executive director of Life Enrichment Advancing People, or LEAP, a nonprofit that provides residential services and case management for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said his organization had to close group homes after struggling to find and retain staff. Wood was among the health care providers and parents of children with disabilities who turned out en masse last week to object to Gov. Janet Mills' decision to withhold anticipated cost-of-living adjustments. The raises were set to take effect Jan. 1 but providers were notified by the Mills administration in December they would not be coming. An inability to pay providers competitive wages would also hurt the people who rely on the care they provide, which Kim Humphrey told lawmakers would be the case for her son, Daniel, an adult with severe autism who lives in a group home and helps deliver meals on wheels to seniors. 'Without adequate funding, Daniel loses the hard-earned skills that allow him to participate in his community,' Humphrey said. 'The proposed budget will devastate my son's life.' Humphrey urged lawmakers to use some of the state's currently maxed out rainy day fund, a move Mills and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have previously objected to. The suspension of cost-of-living adjustments will also impact the ability to hire and retain workers for NeuroRestorative Maine, which provides rehabilitation for brain injuries, said program director Jennifer Jello. Jello also pointed to language in the budget plan that would make future adjustments subject to available appropriations. 'Without that predictability of implementation, there could be detrimental impact to existing care and provider capacity,' Jello said. Others pointed to the Mills administration's recent settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve the children's behavioral health system, which explicitly requires annual cost-of-living adjustments for community-based services in line with the state law. The possibility of reinstating cost-of-living adjustments in the current fiscal year also remains in limbo. After Democrats seemed poised to vote through a change package without Republican support on Feb. 11, an amendment to offer modest cost-of-living adjustments this year for essential support workers showed some promise — though ultimately fell through. The Legislature's presiding officers opted to delay final enactment votes on the supplemental, however, leaving open the possibility cost-of-living adjustments could make their way into a bipartisan deal. Mills proposed several tax changes that have faced pushback so far, but two of those proposals specifically involve health care and are meant to bolster MaineCare, Maine's Medicaid program. These are a 70 cent tax on prescriptions for pharmacies and a tax on non-municipal ambulance service providers equal to 6% of their net operating revenue, the revenue from which the Mills administration says will be used to leverage additional federal dollars and eventually increase MaineCare reimbursements. The Legislature's Blue Ribbon Commission on emergency services recommended a similar ambulance assessment in its final report released in January 2024. However, Rep. Sue Salisbury (D-Westbrook), who sat on the commission and had voted in favor of the recommendation, told lawmakers during the hearing that the group later heard that the program would be hard to manage and not have the desired effect. Salisbury also questioned whether Mills' version of this plan would use the revenue generated to address other shortfalls in the MaineCare budget and not just help ambulance services with the gaps they'd face. In addition to opposing the ambulance tax, Jeffrey Austin, vice president of government affairs for the Maine Hospital Association, urged the committee to reject MaineCare rate cuts Mills has proposed starting in 2027, arguing they are also in conflict with Maine law. 'This is not just a rate cut that they're proposing,' Austin said. 'It's a wholesale change to the methodology used to reimburse hospital-based doctors that is supposed to under the law go through a rate reform process.' Taxes take center stage in budget debates The pharmacy tax also saw strong pushback. While the Maine Pharmacy Association is supportive of efforts to improve MaineCare reimbursements, executive director Amy Downing said, 'Funding this initiative through a tax on pharmacies is an unsustainable and dangerous path.' More than 10% of the state's retail pharmacies have closed in the past decade, and Downing argued the tax would place additional financial strain on those that remain, potentially forcing them to reduce hours, cut services or close altogether. 'The state's argument that increased MaineCare reimbursements will offset this tax in aggregate is flawed,' Downing said. 'Pharmacies with a high percentage of MaineCare patients might break even, but those serving a more diverse mix of patients, including those on Medicare, private insurance or paying out of pocket, will be unfairly penalized.' This is a concern for Steven Royer, vice president of the Kennebec Pharmacy and Home Care, a MaineCare and commercial health insurance provider. After several closures in recent years, they have two pharmacy operations: a long-term care pharmacy and an infusion therapy pharmacy that provides medications and nursing services in home settings. Most of the patients served by the two pharmacies do not have MainCare, as many are seniors who are on Medicare, Royer said. 'While I understand that some pharmacies receive an increased reimbursement for MaineCare prescriptions, this increase would not offset the tax being assessed in our pharmacies due to our patient population,' Royer said. Emily Hill, chief resident in the Family Medicine Residency at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, said the system she works in day-to-day is already fragile. 'I acknowledge the difficult choices you all have to make, especially given the tenuous federal funding environment,' Hill said. 'However, I want to highlight today that these savings are ultimately costs, costs that will be shouldered by the hard working Mainers who work in healthcare and, most importantly, these will all be felt by patients.' Mental health providers urged lawmakers to reject Mills' plan to not move forward with two crisis receiving centers in Kennebec and Aroostook counties authorized last year, in response to the mass shooting in Lewiston. Two other centers will still be built in Lewiston and Penobscot County. They argued the state should divest in law enforcement strategies to address substance use and mental health issues and instead use those funds to support community programs, such as the centers. 'Access to care remains a challenge, as is evidenced by long wait lists for community-based services and individuals languishing in emergency departments instead of receiving the behavioral health support they need,' said Jennifer Christian, associate director of Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services. Halting funding for more crisis centers will exacerbate this, Christian said, as will withholding cost-of-living adjustments for providers and Mills' plan to reduce workforce incentives. The governor has proposed a decrease from $2.5 million annually to $1 million annually for recruitment and retention incentives for staff who provide medication management services. Mainers object to proposed program cuts ahead of governor's budget address Betsy Sweet, speaking on behalf of the Behavioral Health Community Collaborative, said the frustration being felt in hospitals and jails will not be fixed with more beds or capital infrastructure. 'Here is my plea to you: we need to do this differently,' Sweet said. 'We ask that your committees look beyond the line by line entries and blippies and look at the overall picture.' The appropriations committee is the only committee already poised to connect the dots between spending across issue areas. 'They are so connected,' Sweet said, 'and you are the ones that can make those connections not just intellectually, but financially.' This tension between requests for investments in measures that supporters say would prevent reliance on state government long term and requests to expand existing state structures was also seen in the budget hearings for other issue areas. Maine only hired its first five public defenders in 2022. Mills added two offices and 10 more public defender positions the following year. Last month, the Kennebec County Superior Court ruled that Maine violated people's Sixth Amendment rights by failing to provide indigent legal representation. The governor's proposed budget doesn't create any new positions for public defense services, which leaves the state with a half baked system, said Jim Billings, executive director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. The state has five offices in the northern and western regions of the state, but no public defender structure in the most populous counties. The list of cases without counsel in the state has been hovering around 1,000 cases for months, according to Billings. Billings also said Mills' proposed allocations to pay outside counsel fall drastically short from what's needed. Maine has long relied on private attorneys to represent low-income defendants in the absence of indigent defense infrastructure. Currently, Public Defense Services is paying between $3 and $4 million per month for outside counsel fees, which Billings said means the system will run out of funding for this in April 2026. 'This is also disastrous for trying to recruit new members of the bar to do [Public Defense Services] work or to even maintain the meager roster we have,' Billings said. Another budget item of concern when it comes to the judiciary is funding for the Victims of Crime Act. The budget includes a $3 million ongoing allocation, however that only covers half of the funding gap created by a reduction in VOCA funding from the federal government, said Francine Garland Stark, executive director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Garland Stark asked lawmakers to increase the allocation to $6 million. Shira Burns, executive director Maine Prosecutors Association, also urged lawmakers to close the gap. Six of Maine's eight prosecutorial districts and the Office of the Attorney General rely on VOCA grant funding for their Victim Witness Advocate programs, and those six districts get get $55,000 each year to support salaries of VWAs, an amount that has not increased in well over a decade, Burns said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
