The outgoing director of the state social services department says his agency has managed to keep serving its core constituency despite declining resources.
Social Services director Ronald Levy leaves at the end of the month after more than two-and-a-half years in charge of the state agency that gobbles up about one-third of the state budget. But he has served at a time when state finances have remained less than they were four years ago.
Levy says the department has cut employees, has changed its internal processes, and has streamlined operations to cut internal costs so core services aren’t affected. He says many states have made drastic cuts in the safety net programs and in Medicaid, but Missouri has takena different approach that has protected core services and programs.
Levy will be taking his experience as head of social services to the graduate school at St. Louis University where he hopes to contribute real world experiiences to the academic information students will be getting.
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