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Friday, June 05, 2009 6:44 PM Greene commissioners question Beacon Center service Hearing set Monday night By Janet Conner-Knox | Times Staff Writer The Beacon Center could lose oversight responsibilities for mental health services in Greene County to another agency. The Greene County Board of Commissioners will take up the issue Monday night during a public hearing set for 7 p.m. at the Greene County Office Complex in Snow Hill. Commissioners want to know if residents think The Beacon Center, the agency that provides oversight for mental health, developmental disability services in Wilson, Greene, Edgecome and Nash Counties, is providing good service or if Greene County should try to join the Eastpointe service area. Greene County is the first of the four counties to openly discuss possibly seeking a new provider. No decisions are expected to be made Monday. Although the state discourages counties from changing the agency they work with, it could happen. Greene County Commissioner James Shackleford, who also sits on The Beacon Center board, said he is concerned about parents who come to Beacon Center board meetings saying services to their children have been cut and that their children have been regressing. He said he hopes consumers and service providers will seize the opportunity to have their voices heard, although he admits he isn't sure who will speak up or how much information commissioners will get. "Providers call privately but say they don't want any trouble (from The Beacon Center) and don't want to be public with their comments," said Shackleford. "That only hinders the board of knowing what is going on with the people of Greene County who are supposed to be served." This is the first hearing commissioners have had on the issue. The public hearing comes at a time when a state investigation, which could be completed later this month, is underway at The Beacon Center into how the center is spending its money. Shackleford said he hopes this meeting will give commissioners an idea of how the county is affected. He said another problem his county has is that it lacks an advocacy group that speaks for the consumers. Shackleford said even though he is on the board, there is a lot to understand and learn about mental health. He said the whole Beacon Center board should be more knowledgeable about mental health and then they would be able to make better decisions based on facts. He also said he believes the board should play a bigger role in how things are done at the agency. "We are on the board of The Beacon Center, but we don't really know what is going on there in Rocky Mount," said Shackleford. "We are hearing complaints from families and I am very concerned about them. All we can do is accept what we hear from them that they are doing the best they can. We don't have enough facts to challenge anything." A funding comparison asked for by The Wilson Times shows The Beacon Center spent 34 percent of its service dollars providing mental health, developmentally disabled and substance abuse services to consumers last fiscal year. This is less of its money than any other mental health agency in the state. Eastpointe, which serves a four-county area: Duplin, Lenoir, Sampson and Wayne counties, spent 76 percent of its service dollars last fiscal year. Other agencies in the state spent between 45 percent and 95 percent of their service budgets providing these same services, the comparison revealed. Shackleford said the recent spending numbers make it clear why Greene County would be interested in having Eastpointe oversee providing services for it. "If you look at Eastpointe's record and see how they spend their money it is easy to see," said Shackleford. "Eastpointe is doing a better job. The record speaks for itself." While The Beacon Center and similar agencies across the state have the same job of overseeing mental health developmental disabilities and substance abuse programs, state officials said it is hard to compare one agency to another because they are all funded different although by the same agencies. "For instance the counties with larger urban areas may get more county money than counties that are mostly rural," said Lisa Jackson, who is on the state's LME system performance team. Among the questions state investigators have are why the center has such a large fund balance but has cut developmental therapy hours for children. Other things under scrutiny include why The Beacon Center has set aside $2 million for a new computer system and why it left unspent more than $1.1 million, all of which could have been used for services. Karen Salacki, executive director of The Beacon Center, said in an e-mail to The Wilson Times that $393,000 was left unspent last fiscal year because in some cases providers didn't provide the service to the customer. She did not comment on the remaining $700,000 that according to the state was also left unspent. Developmental disability therapy hours were cut last summer for some children causing parents to ask about the center's large fund balance, which at the end of last year was $31 million. Salacki told parents there was not enough money in the developmental disabilities budget to continue all of the hours of therapies for children. The Beacon Center with the state's consent recently moved $2.9 million into their developmental disabilities budget. Salacki said that so far The Beacon Center has funded 30 requests with that money and funds are still available. janet@wilsontimes.com | 265-7847 |
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disgusted said...
The Times is biased, but how were those "tiers" decided? If it was based on information given by the Beacon Center then you may want to question its accuracy. It seems there has been a lot of misinformation from that agency for a long time.
Monday, June 08, 2009 at 8:05 AM
Wrong again said...The Times is biased, but how were those "tiers" decided? If it was based on information given by the Beacon Center then you may want to question its accuracy. It seems there has been a lot of misinformation from that agency for a long time.
Monday, June 08, 2009 at 8:05 AM
The WDT left out a very important fact which they always do because they have really bad sources of information. When the state did a study of all LME's in 2008, Eastepointe ranked in the lowest category and The Beacon Center was ranked higher in the 2nd tier so why wasn't this included in this article? I can tell you why, because the newspaper has been and continues to be biased.
Saturday, June 06, 2009 at 9:06 PM
About $400,000 Wilson County tax dollars goes to this agency yet services have been cut to many of the local families. Why haven't the Commissioners been asking questions of Ms. Salacki? Wilson needs to get away from this agency also. *Thank you Ms. Connor Knox for another excellent article about The Beacon Center.
Saturday, June 06, 2009 at 8:37 AM
The Beacon Center clearly cannot be trusted to budget state funds in the most appropriate manner that is in the best interest of the citizens in this county. Karen Salacki should be fired for mismanagement and for her nonchalent attitude. Mental health clients deserve better treatment and their familes deserve more compassion.
Friday, June 05, 2009 at 11:22 PM
"A funding comparison asked for by The Wilson Times shows The Beacon Center spent 34 percent of its service dollars providing mental health, developmentally disabled and substance abuse services to consumers last fiscal year. This is less of its money than any other mental health agency in the state." This is another example of the state's reorganization of mental health services.. Good idea. Provide fewer service for the people who need it. Much cheaper to have revolving door patients in and out of state facilities rather than keep them functional in the community. Why didn't some rocket neurosurgeon think of this before? The people in the legislature are destroying NC one inch at a time.
Friday, June 05, 2009 at 7:57 PM
