Dane County supervisors, board members, people with disabilities and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk met Tuesday to discuss the financial future of human services in Dane County.
Human services are services provided for people who cannot provide for themselves, primarily the disabled and the elderly.
Eight million dollars of the state's revenue was cut in the past year, of which $6 million was from human services. The most recent plan to generate revenue was a referendum to expand a casino in Madison, which a study predicted to generate $3.5 million per year for Dane County human services, but was rejected.
Fran Bicknel, a Dane County senior citizen, said Dane County is supporting age discrimination because of the impact of the revenue cuts on senior citizens.
Among solutions for human services funding was a three-cent surcharge for all cell phone calls, higher tobacco prices, grant and charge for homosexual civil unions, and placing alcohol and drug dependent criminals in treatment facilities instead of jails.
\[Human services funding] isn't on people's radar,"" said David Relles, founder of No Dane Casino. ""The media can help to try to convince the community at large that this is an important issue. There are ways to poke the media in the right direction to get these problems to the public.""
Nell Mally, a member of the human services board, questioned what programs could be considered county-funded programs when funding drops below a certain point.
Lynn Brady, a member of the mental health center, said Dane County needs drastic changes.
