SRS reverses decision to close Lawrence office

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has tentatively agreed to reverse its decision to close its office in Lawrence.

The agreement, spelled out in a memo of understanding released late Monday afternoon, hinges on the Lawrence City Commission and Douglas County Commission agreeing to each pay SRS $112,500 in 2012 and 2013.

SRS, in turn, will agree to keep its Lawrence office open and fully functional through September 2013.

Whether the office remains open after September 2013 will depend on the “financial condition of the State of Kansas,” according to the memo.

The Lawrence City Commission is expected to vote on the proposal tonight; the Douglas County Commission will vote Wednesday evening.

'In the short term, I think, this is a proposal that’s in the best interest of the community as a whole," said Jim Flory, chairman of the Douglas County Commission.

"A number of my constituents have made the counterargument that we’re using local tax dollars to continue services that are a state responsibility - and I understand that argument," Flory said. "But I also understand the state’s budget situation and, again, the short-term goal and, for me, the overriding concern is services for some of our most vulnerable citizens: the elderly, the developmentally disabled, and children."

"We have an obligation, I feel, to see that those services continue," he said.

Last month, SRS announced plans to close nine of its local offices sometime this fall. The Lawrence office was the largest of the nine. A significant public outcry followed opposing the proposed closure of the Lawrence office.

The closings were expected to save the department $1 million.

Earlier this year, lawmakers directed SRS officials to cut about $21.5 million in state general fund spending, including $1 million from the agency's administrative budget.

SRS Secretary Rob Siedlecki said the Lawrence office was put on the closure list because there were other SRS offices nearby in Ottawa, Topeka, and Kansas City. He also said Lawrence SRS clients could use the Internet to access services.

On Monday, Siedlecki said he welcomed the Lawrence and Douglas County proposal.

"Douglas County and the City of Lawrence came to us with a proposal and we were more than willing to work with them," Siedlecki said in a prepared statement. "Their proposal will help SRS to meet its cost-cutting objectives, as set by the Legislature, while keeping the Lawrence office open. Everyone wins."

It is not known whether the Lawrence office will remain open past 2013.

"It’s going to depend on what kind of revenues we’re looking at two years from now," said House Majority Leader Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg. "If we’re in the same predicament that we’re in now – one where we simply don’t have the funding to support all the projects at SRS – the Legislature may well say, 'It’s a tough decision, but we simply don’t have the resources (to keep the Lawrence SRS office open.'"

"I can see that happening if the economy stays the same or goes down," he said. "What we need is for the economy to improve, which, of course, isn’t what happened yesterday."

Emler was referring to the significant drop in the stock market Monday.

It’s possible, he said, that Lawrence and Douglas County officials may find after 2013 that subsidizing the office would cost their budgets less than "losing it altogether."

Other SRS offices targeted for closure are in Coffeyville, Garnett, Lyndon, Marysville, Pratt, Wellington, Fort Scott, and McPherson.

Emler’s district includes McPherson. "I’ve received a few calls about the (McPherson) office closing," he said. "But it’s not been like the hue and cry we’ve heard from Lawrence."

Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin said he and others have been meeting with SRS officials.

"We’re still talking," he said. "We're trying to see what can be done to keep the office from closing. There’s dialogue."

Martin said he’s been encouraged by SRS officials to follow Lawrence and Douglas County’s lead. "It’s been presented to us in terms of an economic development issue, that these are jobs that otherwise will be lost."

Services, too, he said, are a concern.

"What some of us are having a hard time with is spending local tax dollars on what’s a state responsibility," Martin said. "But … we’re still talking."

The SRS office in Fort Scott has 30 employees. It’s the second largest office targeted for closure.

Read the SRS Press Release