Program to survive loss of funds

CARSON CITY -- A state-funded program under which 32 investigators check out allegations of child abuse in Clark County will continue operating despite the withdrawal of state funds.

A joint Senate-Assembly budget committee was told Thursday that the county Department of Family Services has agreed to find the necessary funds.

State Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden said the state no longer could pay $4.5 million over the next two years to cover costs of the investigation program.

Willden said surplus welfare funds had been given to the county over the years for the investigators, but those funds had evaporated. He added that he had written letters to the county in the past informing officials that the grants for the program only were temporary.

However, Clark County lobbyist Sabra Smith-Newby said the state had provided the funds to the county since 1994.

When questioned by legislators, she said the county had developed no plan to continue the program without state funds.

"We will have to think out what to do," Smith-Newby said.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, defended for the program, saying it is important for Child Protective Services investigators to respond quickly to homes where child abuse is suspected.

"This program was working, and it makes sense," she added.

But during a 15-minute break, both Willden and Smith-Newby spoke by telephone with Tom Morton, the director of family services in Clark County. They said he told them he could find the funds to continue the program over the next fiscal year and probably during the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Willden said there might be a need to ask the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee for more funds to continue the program in 2010-11.

Smith-Newby said the county will keep the program intact but it will have to postpone other planned services to do so.

Willden said he has tried three times in past sessions to find a permanent funding source for the program, but each attempt has been rejected by governors and the Legislature.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.