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Agency's surplus under investigation
The extra $62-million should be good news for thousands awaiting help, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities says.
Associated Press
Published July 25, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - State legislators want to know how the agency responsible for assisting the disabled ended up with a $62-million surplus while thousands of people who needed help remained on a waiting list.
The inquiry began just after the Agency for Persons with Disabilities ended the budget year June 30 with extra money that reverted back to the state. House and Senate staffers have been dispatched to talk to representatives from the agency.
"I don't think anyone is suggesting fraud or malfeasance," said Towson Fraser, spokesman for House Speaker Allan Bense. "If staff start seeing anything inappropriate, then we call an auditor general, attorney general, inspector general to really take a look at it."
State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, called for an independent investigation of the agency, which serves people with conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, mental retardation and spina bifida.
"We need to understand why it happened, because it's another year of anguish for these people on the waiting list," said Galvano, a member of the House Health Care Appropriations Committee.
Agency spokesman Scottie Howell said the surplus came from savings in billing errors a new computer system found, and the agency expects the same this year. Agency officials have said in recent days that as many as 10 percent of bills are erroneous in some manner.
Howell said the billing-error recognition is good news for 3,000 people on the 14,604-person waiting list expected to be helped by the extra money. The agency's budget already called for services to be added to another 3,000 people, bringing the estimated total of affected applicants to 6,000.
"This is a story we want to get out," he said.
The agency serves about 35,000 people and has a budget that tops $1-billion.
--Information from the Orlando Sentinel was used in the report.
[Last modified July 25, 2005, 01:12:19]
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