DEENA WINTER, Bismarck Tribune

The head of the state Human Services Department said Friday that even though the House has added some money to her budget, it's still in a "serious situation" that she hopes will be rectified before the legislative session ends.

The House is moving toward approving a Human Services budget that contains $8 million more state funding than the Senate OK'd. But the department's executive director, Carol Olson, said much of that money cannot be considered a "restoration" to the budget, since many of the items added weren't requested by the department or governor. That would include a $85 per resident daily reimbursement cap for nursing homes and a 37-cent raise for developmentally disabled providers.

Olson said most of the line items reduced by the Senate remain untouched - including a directive that the department reduce program and policy management by $4 million, reduce administrative support by $1.5 million and reduce spending on prescription drugs by $2.9 million. She said a $2 million reduction in spending at the State Hospital and $1 million reduction at the state Developmental Center will be tough for those facilities to swallow. She said the State Hospital would have to reduce programs and people, up to 30 of them.

The bill went to the full Appropriations Committee on Friday, and Democrats tried to restore most of the cuts made in the Senate, but were outvoted by the majority Republicans. Rep. James Kerzman, D-Mott, said the department already had submitted a "bare-bones budget" to the governor, with a reduction of 200 full-time employees. He said the state needs to properly care for its aging population.

But the man in charge of massaging the budget, Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, said the budget is still more than $1.5 billion, the first time a state budget has surpassed the mark, despite the fact that the state is losing population. He said spending is still $100 million higher than current spending.

He said while it would be nice to give the department everything it asked for, "if you look at our bottom dollar, I don't know how we have this (money)."

Rep. Pam Gulleson, D-Rutland, questioned whether the Legislature was shorting the Human Services department. Delzer said he believes they are not, and said the bill gives the department the authority to move money around if needed.

Olson said the department submitted a solid, responsible budget that meets the needs of the state's most vulnerable people, and to maintain that, the department needs $16 million, which translates to $50 million with federal funds.

After analyzing what a House subcommittee did with the budget, Olson said, "I'm not feeling very encouraged."

"It's going to be difficult to live within the budget if it doesn't get enhanced in the conference committee," she said. She said if the budget remains largely unchanged, the department will do everything to preserve funding for clients and programs.

"We're going to be looking at the whole department to figure out ways to be compliant with the budget," she said.

The legislation still must be approved by the full House and then most likely go to a conference committee.

(Reach Deena Winter at 223-8482 or deenawinter@ndonline.com.)