PERKINS TWP.

Ohio Veterans Home officials were notified Feb. 12 that they will not get $733,000 in appropriations they were promised as an early Christmas present just two months ago.

As a result, the opening of the Georgetown, Ohio, facility, now under construction, will be delayed until at least Oct. 1 from its original June opening date.

But the news could have been a lot worse.

The Ohio Office of Budget and Management had originally asked OVH officials to slash more than $1.3 million from their operating budget -- but some steely negotiating from OVH Network Director Christine Cook brought the cuts down to a more manageable $733,000, according to OVH spokesman Gary Chetwood.

The budget for fiscal year 2002 was more than $38 million, Chetwood said.

"She's still negotiating, too -- and she will continue to negotiate with (the budget office) right down to the wire," Chetwood said.

During the last two years, OVH has been spared a lot of the budget cuts that have plagued most state agencies, according to Cook.

But with the dire financial state of both federal and state budgets this year, the budget office is slashing operating budgets across the board for all state agencies, according to a published statement released by OVH officials Wednesday.

Cook said both facilities in the network, consisting of the Ohio Veterans Home in Perkins Township and the southern Ohio facility under construction in Georgetown, are affected by state budget cuts.

"The mission of the Ohio Veterans Home is to provide a safe living environment for the residents so they can achieve their highest level of functional ability," Cook said.

Cook noted in her statement that the budget cuts will not compromise the Ohio Department of Health and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs standards that regulate the OVH nursing home.

"It is our intention to trim our expenses across the board so neither the residents nor employees feel the full impact of the loss of general revenue funds," Cook said.

The following cost-saving measures are being implemented immediately, according to Cook:

• Restricting overtime for employees at both locations

• Reorganizing the Resident Therapy Program at the Perkins Township facility that allows residents to work at jobs at the facility for $3.50 an hour. Residents answer phones, mow lawns, take residents to appointments, deliver mail and perform other tasks.

• Instituting voluntary leaves of absence without pay for employees at both locations

• Putting a hiring freeze on for non-essential employees at both locations

• Reducing travel and continuing education programs for staff at both locations

• Reorganization of staff based on economy and efficiency.

"We are hoping this is just a temporary situation and that we will get back on solid financial ground again by July," Chetwood said.

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