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Lawmakers agree to keep Bellefontaine open
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By DAVID A. LIEB
The Associated Press
Disabled residents at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center likely will remain put for at least another year, after legislative budget negotiators decided Friday to continue funding the center that Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt had proposed to close.
Blunt's plan to close the mental health facility in north St. Louis County was opposed by some relatives of the 340 mentally retarded and physically disabled residents, who expressed fears about what would happen to their loved ones.
Some legislators also had expressed concerns about the practicalities and costs of closing the residential facility.
Budget conferees adopted a Senate plan Friday that keeps Bellefontaine in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. The Legislature is to vote next week on the final version of the budget, which must be sent to Blunt by May 6.
Department of Mental Health Director Dorn Schuffman said Friday that the proposed $24.5 million for Bellefontaine -- while a slight reduction from the amount appropriated for this year -- would allow the center to operate at its current level next year.
But he said the department is continuing with a five-year plan to gradually move residents out of Bellefontaine into other facilities or community-based services.
Blunt is still hoping to close the center sooner than that.
"It is still the governor's goal to find community placement for the individuals in Bellefontaine, and it is still our intent to close Bellefontaine," Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said Friday.
Even with the Legislature's appropriation, Blunt could close Bellefontaine near the end of the next fiscal year. Or it could be the year after that, Robinson said. Along with cost savings, Blunt has cited concerns over reported patient abuse at the facility.
In February, Schuffman had told a House committee that it would have taken at least a year to relocate all the center's patients if lawmakers had followed recommendations to close Bellefontaine.
Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis, who had staunchly opposed closing Bellefontaine, said he expects to have to fight efforts to shut it down again next year.
House Budget Committee Chairman Brad Lager, R-Maryville, confirmed that the topic is likely to return.
"We're till interested in closing it, just not this year," Lager said. "It just turned out to be too much to do in one fiscal year."
Blunt's budget, as proposed in January, estimated that closing Bellefontaine could save the state $13.8 million. But a state budget analyst later said that number was faulty, reducing the savings to a best-case scenario of $2.5 million for the coming fiscal year.
Democratic Rep. Gina Walsh, of St. Louis, had contended that closing the facility actually could have cost the state as must as $1.4 million, when including the cost of subsidizing the patients to go to private facilities.
Walsh said she has received no indication from the governor's office that Bellefontaine would remain open long-term, but said advocates will continue efforts to keep it open.
"It buys time. It buys them another year," she said.
Hilary Schmittzehe, director of the Cape Girardeau chapter for the Missouri Association for Retarded Citizens, said at least 10 residents from Bellefontaine have already been moved to outside intermediate care facilities.
But he didn't think Missouri has resolved where it will put the center's most severely disabled residents, including those with self-destructive tendencies. The state needs to keep facilities with zero rejection rates, he said. "I think this might be a softening," he said.
Blunt's plan to close the mental health facility in north St. Louis County was opposed by some relatives of the 340 mentally retarded and physically disabled residents, who expressed fears about what would happen to their loved ones.
Some legislators also had expressed concerns about the practicalities and costs of closing the residential facility.
Budget conferees adopted a Senate plan Friday that keeps Bellefontaine in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. The Legislature is to vote next week on the final version of the budget, which must be sent to Blunt by May 6.
Department of Mental Health Director Dorn Schuffman said Friday that the proposed $24.5 million for Bellefontaine -- while a slight reduction from the amount appropriated for this year -- would allow the center to operate at its current level next year.
But he said the department is continuing with a five-year plan to gradually move residents out of Bellefontaine into other facilities or community-based services.
Blunt is still hoping to close the center sooner than that.
"It is still the governor's goal to find community placement for the individuals in Bellefontaine, and it is still our intent to close Bellefontaine," Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said Friday.
Even with the Legislature's appropriation, Blunt could close Bellefontaine near the end of the next fiscal year. Or it could be the year after that, Robinson said. Along with cost savings, Blunt has cited concerns over reported patient abuse at the facility.
In February, Schuffman had told a House committee that it would have taken at least a year to relocate all the center's patients if lawmakers had followed recommendations to close Bellefontaine.
Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis, who had staunchly opposed closing Bellefontaine, said he expects to have to fight efforts to shut it down again next year.
House Budget Committee Chairman Brad Lager, R-Maryville, confirmed that the topic is likely to return.
"We're till interested in closing it, just not this year," Lager said. "It just turned out to be too much to do in one fiscal year."
Blunt's budget, as proposed in January, estimated that closing Bellefontaine could save the state $13.8 million. But a state budget analyst later said that number was faulty, reducing the savings to a best-case scenario of $2.5 million for the coming fiscal year.
Democratic Rep. Gina Walsh, of St. Louis, had contended that closing the facility actually could have cost the state as must as $1.4 million, when including the cost of subsidizing the patients to go to private facilities.
Walsh said she has received no indication from the governor's office that Bellefontaine would remain open long-term, but said advocates will continue efforts to keep it open.
"It buys time. It buys them another year," she said.
Hilary Schmittzehe, director of the Cape Girardeau chapter for the Missouri Association for Retarded Citizens, said at least 10 residents from Bellefontaine have already been moved to outside intermediate care facilities.
But he didn't think Missouri has resolved where it will put the center's most severely disabled residents, including those with self-destructive tendencies. The state needs to keep facilities with zero rejection rates, he said. "I think this might be a softening," he said.
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