State budget ax falls on special-needs home planned for Bluffton

Lean economic times already have forced Beaufort County and its municipalities to tighten their belts. Now, some of the programs that serve the county's neediest residents will be slashed because of state budget cuts.

Legislators had to find a way to balance the state budget, but some local residents will pay the price.

Michael and Cheryl Kaufman, who moved to Sun City Hilton Head from California, have for months been preparing their mentally disabled son Jack, 43, to move into a new county-operated home in Bluffton.

Michael Kaufman said Friday it would have meant round-the-clock care for Jack at a time when he and his wife are getting older.

The county's Disabilities and Special Needs department had picked out the home site and had told the

relatives of four mentally disabled people, including Jack's, that they'd be moving in soon.

But when the legislature made its cuts last week, the money the county was depending on to buy the home disappeared. There are several homes in northern Beaufort County for mentally disabled people, but none south of the Broad River.

"It would have been a huge relief to me to know that my other children wouldn't have to step up and take Jack when we're gone," said Michael Kaufman.

Kaufman, whose son was in a special needs facility when they lived in California, is starting to question the decision to retire in South Carolina.

"Did I make a mistake when I moved here? Will there ever be a place for Jack?" Kaufman asked.

"The heartache for me I can live with. But the one who takes the loss is Jack. He would have really flourished in this place."

More than two-thirds of the money in the county's Disabilities and Special Needs budget, about $3.7 million, comes from the state. About 11.2 percent of that will be cut, according to the department's director, Mitzi Wagner.

"It's monumental," Wagner said of the cuts. "And I don't think a lot of people understand what we do with a relatively small amount of money."

In addition to postponing the county's plans to expand its special needs housing program in southern Beaufort County, Wagner said several other services will be cut, including these:

• A program that helps families pay to retrofit homes to accommodate mentally disabled relatives. Cost: $19,120

• A program providing respite to people caring for a mentally disabled relatives. Cost: $19,452

• Treasure Chest, a summer camp for children with severe difficulties who don't fit in at other camp settings. Cost: $15,300

Wagner said other programs will have to be scaled back.

"What's frustrating is to have to face the parents and say, 'We can't do that for you.' ... It's at a time when families don't have the resources to make up for that loss," Wagner said.

The county could feel the pain from the state cuts in a few other areas, according to deputy county administrator Morris Campbell, but the disabilities department is by far the hardest hit.

Kaufman said he's not holding his breath for the state to come up with the money for a special-needs home in Bluffton.

"I'm a realist, and the ugly picture we're in is going to be here another five to seven years," he said.