By Brendan Browne
Queens non-profit organizations set up to assist people with permanent disabilities such as mental retardation, autism and Down’s syndrome probably will emerge from the state and city budget battle without any drastic cuts.
In fact, the state will boost funding for non-profit groups represented by the Queens Council on Development Disabilities by 3 percent in the next fiscal year, according to Doug Triebel, co-chairman of the group.
The increase in spending is due partly to the lobbying effort of the group, which traveled to Albany last month with its sister organizations from each borough to pressure legislators not to slash funding as they debated budget issues, Triebel said.
Last Thursday, the QCDD invited city officials to the Hillside Manor Comprehensive Care Center to make clear their need for funding from the city as well. Though several council members were invited, along with other politicians, only two elected officials showed up.
Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis) and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall told listeners that they planned to stem the mayor’s cuts to health services, which could leave the groups represented by the QCDD with 15 percent less in city funding.
“We are not going to balance the budget on the backs” of the QCDD organizations, said Weprin. “It’s very important to restore the money cut from the mayor’s budget for mental health,” he said.
Weprin said later the City Council would propose removing about 2 percent from the city’s health services.
“If the City Council doesn’t help us out, we’re going to be in bad straits,” said Marshall. “I hope your programs do not have to absorb the horrendous cuts everyone else has.”
Still, even with a sharp cut in city funding, the organizations represented by the QCDD probably will survive because most of their government assistance comes from the state, not the city. Weprin also said the 2 percent cut proposed by the Council would reduce administrative expenses and would not hit the actual services offered by the organizations under the QCDD.
The QCDD, formerly known as the Queens Council on Mental Retardation and Development Disability, represents groups such as New York Families for Autistic Children, the Association for Children with Retarded Mental Development, and the Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded.
Reach reporter Brendan Browne by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 155.
