Linn County officially axes 22 human services jobs

The Linn County Board of Supervisors formally voted Tuesday to close the county's Supported Community Living Program, eliminating 16 full-time and six part-time union jobs.

The services provided to help the mentally ill live independently will be taken over by non-profit and private-sector providers that provide the service for less cost than Linn County.

Supervisor Ben Rogers on Tuesday thanked those in positions about to be eliminated who proposed downsizing the department to try to "save" it. But he said "the reality is" that the county would need to absorb about $500,000 in costs to keep the program open what with new state funding cuts.

The state has been providing Linn County with an exception, allowing the county to charge $78.62 an hour for the service. The state has shifted to a for-profit program management firm that will not continue the exception. The rate for the service will be capped at $46.70 an hour, which is not sufficient to cover the costs of the existing county program, supervisors and county officials have concluded.

Mechelle Dhondt, director of mental health and developmental disabilities program for Linn County, noted this week that Linn County created the Supported Community Living Program in the 1970s when no other entity was providing the service in the county. Now, several programs provide the service in Linn County, she said.

The transition of the county program's current caseload of 108 clients to other providers will take place over a number of months, Dhondt has said.