Mr Mons goes to the Minnesota Senate

... but only to testify.  I was asked to tell "our story" to the Senate committee that is holding hearings on our Governor's proposed budget reductions for the next two fiscal years.


Here's the testimony I gave ... with a time limit of 3 minutes, I had to be concise.  


If you live in Minnesota and disagree with the Governor's recommendations, please contact your state representative and senator.  (Let me know if you need help in identifying them!)



Madam Chair and members of the Committee


My name is Rick Mons and we live in Shoreview, Minnesota. I am speaking as a parent and guardian for our son, Alec.  


Alec is a 24 year old man with Down Syndrome.  He lives at home and the only publicly funded social service he receives is through a non-profit provider named Merrick.  These services are paid through Ramsey County using Children's and Community Services Act funds.


Merrick’s services help Alec work in the private sector -- he's currently working in a small mortgage company, digitizing documents.  He enjoys his work and takes tremendous  pride in being employed – employed just like his parents and employed like everyone else he knows.


The Governor's decision to cut CCSA funds causes a reduction in revenues at Ramsey County.  As a result, Ramsey County has told us that Alec’s services at Merrick will be reduced.  

• He will be able to work only 3 days a week or 3 weeks a month;
• He will likely not be able to retain his current job.  The employer needs staffing 5 days a week and  cannot grant one week off per month;
• Merrick has told us that Alec’s limited availability will also make him a less attractive candidate for other jobs in the community 

Moreover, Alec cannot be by himself for extended periods of time.  Thus, his mother or I will reduce our income so we can stay home with him.


There is an ironic twist to this:  when Alec turned 18 we could have asked that he be made a ward of the State.  The costs to the State would have been much higher.   In addition to Merrick’s services, the State would need to provide residential care and staff supervision when he’s not at Merrick.  Moreover, Medical Assistance would be his primary health insurer rather than our family policy.  


And here’s the real twist: Alec would receive full services at Merrick if he were not living at home.  Ramsey County’s decision to reduce funding only affects the Developmentally Disabled who live at home.  Those who live in group homes or other facilities receive Day Training services through other funding sources that have not been cut.


Reducing these funds actually gives us a bizarre incentive to revoke guardianship:  

• Alec would then have full services at Merrick, 
• we’d then not lose income by taking time off and 
• we’d then reduce our costs for health insurance.  

But it would be at Alec’s expense and the expense of our concept of family.


Minnesota has been a leader in deinstutionalization and providing community based services.  


This reduction reverses that direction.  It is simply bad public policy.  And, in our family’s case it is perverse public policy.

Drake Sweeps Southern Illinois in Basketball

I might be accused of posting this only to nettle my brother who's an
SIU alum. And you'd be right.

See, my brother and I have this bet (for a whopping $5.00 per game)
whenever Drake and SIU play hoops. Usually I have to write checks to
him.

Even when Drake made their once-every-40 year NCAA appearance, Drake
split the series.

But this year we swept. It's Broom-time, baby! I'm $10.00 richer (as
soon as my 1,000 pennies arrive via stage coach, knowing my brother).

Break out the bubbly! Cue the band! The mighty Bulldogs have
relegated the simpering Salukis to the pound!

And I figure I have at least 10.5 months of bragging rights!

Love ya, Roy!

Sent via e-mail & my iPod Touch

The Minnesota Mons Family

Here's a portrait of the expanded Minnesota Mons Family:

Back row: Matt and wife Molly, Todd Kehrberg, Drew and wife Megan.

Middle row: Barb, Alec and me

Front row: Oscar and his Greatgrandmother, Millie (Barb's mom)

This picture was taken late last fall as a present to Millie from Drew and Megan. It's a present we've all enjoyed!

A tale of two basketball games

Thursday, Alec and I went to see Michigan play the Minnesota Golden Gophers (mens) Basketball team. Minnesota played one of the least inspired games I'd seen since Tubby Smith arrived ... just dreadful. The highlight of the game actually came after the game: as we were leaving, we met Bobby Knight:

Knight was very nice and gracious to Alec given the number of autographs and handshakes he'd already given to a number of fans.

Friday night we caught Cretin-Derham Hall's boys basketball game against Forest Lake. Drew is an assistant coach this year for C-DH and this was a pretty big game as FL had beaten C-DH a month or so ago and was in the conference lead. C-DH trailed most of the game -- sometimes by as much as 12 points -- but came back to tie it up and send it into overtime. The lead in OT see-sawed until, with a few seconds left, C-DH had possession of the ball and was behind (79-80). A C-DH player put up a shot, missed, another C-DH player got the rebound and made a put-back. But the refs ruled that time had expired with the put-back and waved off the points. It was a well-played game and impossible for me to watch the play and the clock ... and the noise level was too high to hear the buzzer.

It was nice to watch a basketball game that was played with intensity and passion.

How do you simplify a complicated story?

That's the question Barb and I are facing right now.

The simple problem statement is that unless something changes profoundly, Alec will lose about 25% of the funds that pay for him to go to Merrick, a program that develops and then provides employment activities for him. That translates to Alec not receiving services about one day per week or one week per month.

We feel comfortable leaving Alec to his own devices for a couple hours on occasion. But not for a full day. Not for five consecutive days.

Why is this happening? Well, our state ran into the budget crunch and rather than accept the proposed combination of funding reductions and tax increases, the Governor of our state decided to cut funding in a number of programs. One of those programs got cut by 25% in the first fiscal year and will be cut 33% in the second year.

That meant our county receives a commensurate reduction in state funds that they've used to fund Alec's services. During 2010, the County was willing to make up the difference, In 2011, however, they've declined to do so and will reduce their expenditures.

So that's the simple story. When I tell it to our county commissioners, their eyes usually begin to glaze over at this point so I'll stop here.

But for those who love irony, here's a slightly more complicated tidbit. When Alec became an adult, we opted to become his legal guardians and have him remain residing with us. If we had not done so, Alec would have become a ward of the State and placed in a group home, foster home or another residential program. All of his current services -- including those at Merrick -- would be paid for through a different set of programs. The cost to the federal and state coffers would have been much higher over the past 6-7 years. Although it's impossible to say what will happen in the next two or more years, we know his services would be continued without reduction through at least 2011 and the near future.

So, by doing what we felt was the "right thing" for Alec has instead turned out to bite him in the backside starting next year.

And that's the story.

Time passes by ...

It's been over two years since I last wrote an entry on this blog. I thought about scrapping it but there are some entries I still really like and that continue to resonate so I've decided not to start over but be better about writing entries.

Since my last entry:

• Matt and Molly Miller married (3/15/2008). Matt's graduated from law school (University of St Thomas) and almost immediately after was hired as Director of Human Resources for Prior Lake-Savage Public Schools.
• Drew & Megan had their first child -- Oscar Powers Mons, born on 11/25/2008, Barb took several months off to provide day care when Megan returned to work. And, we spend all day Wednesdays with Oscar now. There will be photos and more info on him in later entries.
• Alec has received notice from our county that his funding for "day habilitation" services will be reduced by 25% effective 01/01/11. We're in advocacy/lobbying mode.

I'm sure I'll write more about all of these things later but for now, I'll just let this serve as notice (and incentive) I'll be blogging more.