AUGUSTA, Maine — Ongoing budget shortfalls in the Division for the Blind and the Visually Impaired have been fueling speculation that the state Department of Labor might dismantle the service that provides support for more than 1,100 Mainers.
But after meetings this week, state labor officials and advocates say they've worked some things out, and no services will be lost.
News of funding problems within the Maine Labor Department's Division for the Blind and the Visually Impaired, also known as DBVI, surfaced a little more than a week ago during a meeting of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee.
"I had some questions for the commissioner of labor having to do with the dismantling of the Division of the Blind and the Visually Impaired," Rotundo says. "What does the Department of Labor see as its responsibility for the education of the blind and visually impaired children?"
Democratic state Rep. Peggy Rotundo of Lewiston had gotten a letter from one of the advocacy groups concerned about rumors they were hearing about DBVI.
Advocates for the blind and the visually impaired rely solely on the division for rehabilitative services to help those with compromised sight learn how to live independently. At the Department of Labor, spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz says that includes providing service for 1,100 Mainers who have either been blind since birth or who have experienced a loss of vision at any point in their lives.
"People who cannot see well or cannot see at all need to do activities of daily living, whether it's walking, using a cane, pouring liquids, using your stove — all of those kinds of things are things that we teach," Rabinowitz says.
Fears arose after some members of the blind community heard that four positions within the division had been eliminated and that the rest might be merged with another division within the department. That triggered the alert that came across state Rotundo's desk, but after a lengthy meeting Wednesday with state labor officials, blind advocates such as Lynn Merrill, the vice chair for the State Rehabilitation Council for the Division for the Blind and the Visually Impaired says many concerns have been addressed.
"So we all will be communicating better with one another and all forging ahead with the goal to ensure that the services aren't disrupted and continue for the citizens of Maine who are blind or visually impaired," Merrill says.
Labor Commissioner Jeanne Paquette says her department has notified lawmakers about the financial concerns facing the division and assured them there will be no efforts to dismantle the unit.
She says some of the delay in getting more detailed information to the advocacy groups representing the blind community stemmed in part from confidentiality issues surrounding a leave of absence of one division employee and the freezing of several other positions as a cost-savings measure.
"It was critical for us to get information out there accurately while still protecting the confidentiality and the personnel issues that we deal with in the department and specifically for this type of an issue," Paquette says. "I am all about transparency; I do not want people to misunderstand what we're trying to do for the citizens of Maine."
Paquette and Rabinowitz say shortfalls of approximately $1 million for the division over the next 12 months are being driven largely by federal cutbacks and changes in administrative policies that regulate the delivery of services for the blind and the visually impaired.
Rabinowitz says the department is still waiting to see whether a new federal budget will be in place by the end of the year and that the failure for Congress to achieve that goal poses a threat to programs like DBVI, which is about 90 percent federally funded.