CLAYTON, Mo. — On Wednesday, we learned more about the possible impacts of budget decisions made Tuesday night in St. Louis County.
The county council said it was making $14 million worth of cuts from County Executive Sam Page’s budget when, according to the data made available Wednesday, it wasn’t all cuts, in many cases. It just wasn’t as much of an increase.
Tucked away in the St. Louis County Courts Building is a small fifth-floor office where St. Louis County Public Administrator Tim Weaks and his team of nine others care for about 713 estates and the people attached to them across the entire county.
“When we start to get involved, that's when a nursing home or a hospital or a family member will petition the court and ask for the appointment of a guardian conservator," Weaks said. "And if there's nobody available to do that or there's nobody able or willing and the court makes that finding, then my office is appointed as the guardian of last resort, essentially."
Weaks said he and his staff do a lot for the people in their care including enrolling them in benefits, finding them a facility or group home to live in, making medical decisions and even liquidating their assets.
“We will go in the house and we'll take inventory and collect any valuable assets in that home. Oftentimes for folks who have mental incapacity, what those homes look like is not pretty,” Weaks said.
Kirkland, Woods & Martinsen Partner Attorney John Challis, who has worked on guardianship and conservatorship cases for 20 years, said for a long time it was mainly elderly people who needed this type of care, the number of cases is going up and the people in need are going down in age.
“We've seen an incredible rise over the last 10 to 15 years of younger adults needing guardianships and conservatorships because of mental health reasons or other concerns that may exist, or folks that were under a minor guardianship but then turned 18. And so you have to turn that into an adult guardianship,” Challis said.
Because of the increase in cases, Weaks proposed a small 4.9% budget increase to the county, and nearly 90% of that was for personnel costs. The council responded with a 10% cut that he says could mean layoffs.
“If we don't have enough staff to act quickly and act appropriately and find placement for these folks and obtain the benefits that they need, we're going to be in trouble,” Weaks said.
He said what’s left after these cuts will be barely enough to cover the software program used by their office and administrators across the state.
Weaks said, for now, it will be business as usual but he will be going back to the county council in the second quarter to ask for the funding they need to remain fully staffed.