Life for many Haines seniors and people with disabilities is about to get harder because of $190 million in state budget cuts from the Legislature, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of an additional $444 million.

 Dunleavy’s June 28 line-item vetoes eliminated the Senior Benefits Program that provides monthly payments to low income seniors, eliminated adult dental Medicaid benefits, and cut an additional $50 million in Medicaid services.

The vetoes also eliminated home modification grants that help seniors live independently in their homes longer, eliminated community matching grants that are used by local organizations, food banks and shelters to meet community members’ basic needs, and took away the entire $759,100 in state funding from the Alaska Legal Services Corp. that provides legal help to low-income Alaskans and people with disabilities.

 “Boy, we get bundles!” said Brad Luchs, making his friends laugh during lunchtime at the Haines Senior Center on Monday, while they ate bowls of vegetable soup with buttered bread. 

 Luchs receives federal disability income and food stamps. “How was I making ends meet before (government assistance)? I wasn’t,” Luchs said. He moved to Alaska in 2014 after his house burned down in Nevada. “I thought, Alaska is as good of a place to start over as any.”

 Luchs will be 65 next month. Before Dunleavy’s veto, he would have been eligible to receive the state’s Senior Benefits Program payments, which provided more than 11,000 seniors of low to moderate income between $76 and $250 a month. “I know about (the veto). I can’t do much about it,” Luchs said.

Eighty-nine-year-old Mary Manuell, who has received the monthly payments for years, will not receive her check for the first time this month. “The governor is planning to cut us out,” she said. “I use (that money) for just living.” Manuell has lived in Haines since 1953, when she and her younger sister worked at Hotel Halsingland, cooking and cleaning rooms. Without the benefits, “I can’t live very well. I could go south. I have a cousin in San Diego. He might take me in,” she said.

While budget debates were going on, senior center site manager Caroline Hankins said she streamed the legislative sessions every Thursday at the center. She said only two people showed up for one session. “I think I’m numb at this point,” Hankins said. “It’s pretty heart-breaking. I think it’s going to affect us bigger-picture. As far as I know the senior center will be fine.”

For some residents, budget cuts threaten not only their income but essential services. Cecilia David, 92, suffered a stroke many years ago and relies on daily assistance from Cornerstone Home Care in Haines, which provides personal care, respite and chore services. 

“They help me with everything, (including) my bills. Two people come to my house every day. They come for two hours. It’s good. It’s really good for me,” David said. Without Cornerstone’s services, she said she would have to rely on family in Haines and Metlakatla for daily care.

Cornerstone Home Care depends on Medicaid for 97 percent of its funding. Some people pay for Cornerstone’s services privately, or through grants, but the vast majority are Medicaid recipients, said the organization’s owners, Tara Smith and Michelle Henriques. They said cuts have reduced their Medicaid support by 5 percent, forcing it to return to its 2014 operating budget. 

“The state cuts are expecting us to survive on 2014 rates, and in 2014 we were paying staff probably $2 an hour less than they are receiving now,” Smith said. Cornerstone employs two people in Haines, and 70 across Southeast. Cornerstone currently serves 30 Haines residents and 130 people regionally. Smith and Henriques said they are not considering decreasing staff pay.

“We’re not going anywhere. We may have to do more with less and we don’t know what’s going to happen yet, and we’re still fighting,” Smith said. 

 “At this point nothing is certain, because legislators are trying to put Dunleavy’s line-item vetoes back,” said Sierra Jiminez, assistant director of Southeast Alaska Independent Living (SAIL) in Haines. “But if his veto is to go as proposed, it really just disproportionately burdens the most vulnerable Alaskans, which are seniors, low income, and people with disabilities.”

In 2018, SAIL provided services to 93 seniors and people with disabilities in Haines. Because SAIL’s funding is diversified with state and federal money, grants, and funding from donations, Jiminez said, “SAIL is going to weather this. We, as an organization, are going to be okay. It’s just the people that we serve are going to be hit the hardest,” said Jiminez.

If Dunleavy’s vetoes go into effect, Jiminez said that the elimination of the Human Services Community Initiative Matching Grant will affect them the most this year. SAIL uses the grant to fill its “Last Resort Fund,” which provides $200 maximum-per-individual annual grants to Haines residents. In 2018, the Last Resort Fund gave grants to 29 residents. “It’s just kind of basic, stop-gap funding to meet basic needs,” said Jiminez. She said people use it to defray the cost of food and electricity if they receive an unexpected medical bill, for example.

Back at the senior center lunch, two friends sparred over the budget cuts. Seventy-seven-year old Rebecca Enos, who received both Senior Benefits and Cornerstone chore services, said, “I think (Dunleavy) just plain was not wise, that’s all.” 

“You either have to raise taxes or you have to dip into funds,” said her friend, 77-year-old Jerry Pyle. Pyle was also not in favor of the cuts. 

“It’s a disaster in the works,” Enos said. “I cannot imagine what (Dunleavy) is thinking.”

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