NH CARES
Network for Responsible Budgeting
CARES UPDATE – June 17, 2008
The Fiscal Committee approved the Governor’s $30m FY 09 budget balancing plan today, by passing Executive Order 2008-9.
The DHHS share is $14,808,000 according to the Governor’s Executive Order, although the detailed cuts provided in a backup sheet appear to add up to only $14,360,000. We will let you know when we find out about the $448,000 difference.
The cuts are attached in Word, and we have no more detail than provided in the narrative. The Governor and Commissioner clearly worked hard to minimize cuts to existing direct services, and were largely successful based on the list and information provided to the Fiscal Committee.
The biggest cuts were in Medicaid ($5.8m) with few details provided. Hospital reductions (probably more rate reductions) are again the cut with the most potential harm, although we do not know how much they are and what form they will take. There were assurances that the cut in Healthy Kids did not represent a service cut as it was due to lower enrollments than projected in the FY 09 budget.
The second largest cut was in the Division of Public Health ($5.0m). These came from not implementing the budgeted FY09 increases in the Comprehensive Cancer Plan Program and the Governor’s Commission on Drug and Alcohol Community Grant Programs ($1.5m). These were sorely needed program improvements (and one of the highlights of last year’s budget), but do not represent a reduction from current service levels.
