SYRACUSE, NY – Senator John W. Mannion today released the following statement:
“In the two years I have been Disabilities Chairman, we have reversed decades of decline and disinvestment in the system providing vital services for our family, friends, and neighbors with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities. Despite these efforts, the system remains in a full-blown crisis that can only be fixed with an infusion of state resources.
A budget is a statement of priorities, and my priority is to secure the overdue and desperately needed 8.5 percent salary increase for the voluntary and self-direction workforce while expanding state operated facilities and also improving those salaries.
The $3,000 healthcare worker bonus and 5.4 percent cost of living adjustment I secured last year are strong starting points, but with inflation and the increases in the minimum wage, the pressure on this workforce has never been greater.
The longer we delay action, the more costly and profound these very real and serious problems will become. It will be the state’s most vulnerable and those who care for them who will pay the price in unsustainable wages and forced overtime, delayed medical care, and missed opportunities for enrichment activities. Having enough people available to provide basic support services continues to deteriorate and that is unacceptable.
I look forward to working with my colleagues and the governor to ensure the enacted budget includes the resources that the I/DD community needs and deserves.”
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