Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 1 · column 4 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
Welfare Dept,
gets reprieve
Advisory panel says
options deserve study
By SHARON KILPATRICK
Rappahwinock New* Staff Writer
The state’s plan to save $2 million by requiring theconsolidation of small, largely rural Social Services offices, including Rappahannock’s, was dealt a setback when the advisory committee appointed to study implementation of the plan instead advised that the departments not be consolidated, at least not in time to take effect with the next fiscal year.
Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Resources Robert Vassar, who chaired the advisory committee, said, “The Advisory Committee established to determine how best to do it within the time frame, concluded that it could not be done in the time frame suggested. ”
He said the committee “recommended that the time frame be extended and the secretary (Health and Human Resources Secretary Howard Collum) identify other ways to meet the required savings.” He said the committee tried to find other ways to meet the required savings, but the only other suggestion of “across the board” cuts failed to win a majority of the committee.
Mr. Vassar said that Secretary Collum would consider the committee’s recommendation but might choose still to recommend the consolidation. He said Gov. L. Douglas Wilder had signed off on the plan as a way to meet the department’s budgetary shortfall without sacrificing client services.
See WELFARE, p.A-6
95.4%