No additional DFCS furloughs planned — for now

But the latest word is from the state Department of Human Services regarding furloughs is that no additional days are planned for the county staff this year.

Of course, that all hinges on how this year’s legislative session shakes out.

“All that could change once the legislature says what it wants from the budget and what the governor finally agrees to,” Madison County DFCS director Lisa Plank said.

But for now, any further budget shortfalls will be dealt with through attrition.

“We just won’t be able to hire to fill position, which we’ve been doing for a while,” Plank said.

The threat of more furloughs — and even layoffs — has been a consistent topic of concern and discussion at Madison County DFCS board meetings for months now.

The Madison County DFCS office is already taking regularly scheduled furlough days monthly and will continue to do so in 2010.

But for now, at least, the Madison County staff isn’t scheduled to lose any additional days.

Plank noted that the state DHS and DFCS offices “started planning for this when it first went downhill.”

“So I think we’re in better position than some other state agencies,” Plank said.

Madison County DFCS spent just 44.47 percent of its county funding for 2009.

The department, however, likely won’t have that same level of surplus next year since it will be paying for employee supplements with its county funding.

“Next year, it will be in the regular operating budget, so I think we’ll see more of an impact in the month-to-month budget,” Plank said.

This past year, Madison County used its fund balance to pay for those supplements.