Nearly 600 work in county social services

(Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series looking at Prince William government salaries and positions.)

Nearly one-sixth of the approximately 3,600 employed by Prince William County hail from Social Services and Community Services departments, according to 2008 salary and job information provided via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Specifically, 309 work for Social Services and another 262 for Community Services.

Social Services, according to its Web site description, "provides county residents with a range of services, including employment and support, child welfare and adult and residential youth programs … [as well as] mandated services, including child and adult protective services, food stamps, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families."

Community Services, meanwhile, "provides a variety of mental health, mental retardation, substance abuse and early intervention, as well as emergency services," according to its Web site description.

Both departments, unlike some others in the county, serve Manassas and Manassas City residents, also. Still, at least one supervisor wonders about the cost-efficiency of the services for taxpayers.

"How much funding are we putting in … and are we getting our money's worth?" said Supervisor Wally Covington, R-Brentsville. "These forms of government are very frustrating to me because you don't get measurable goals."

At the same time, Covington recognized the importance of the two departments and said one basic way of testing their financial waters, and whether or not taxpayer dollars were wasted or well-spent, would be to draw comparisons with the likes of Loudoun and Stafford counties.

"It goes to the health and safety of the community," he said, addressing the question of whether these departments' missions were rooted in legitimate government functions. "There's no question, you need to work on the mental health issues [in the community]. The real question is if it's largely successful or not."

As a snapshot comparison, the county employs 97 in Public Safety; 406 in Public Works; 89 in the Sheriff's Department; 747 in police; 240 in the library system; and 432 in Fire and Rescue, according to the 2008 salary information.

"One of the reasons we seem to be so large is we provide a multitude of services to the county," said Jack Ledden, the county's Social Services director. "On the face of it, a few years ago, even I went, '300 employees in Social Service!' Of course, when you find out it's like three large businesses in one, then you start to understand."

For instance, the department is broken into separate divisions that provide mandated services -- Medicaid and TANF, for example, which receive funding and salary contributions from federal and state sources -- and other programs, from child protection to aid for the homeless.

"Social services in other jurisdictions don't manage all these areas," Ledden said.

The resident services division, which oversees the Boys and Girls homes, homeless services, the detention center and the like, has 89 positions, Ledden said. The Benefits Employment and Child Care division, which is "more of the normal Department of Social Services' services," Ledden said, has 107 employees. The Services Division, responsible for child and adult protection, foster care and adoption, has 73 employees, he said. And the rest -- administrative and support, he said.

Besides, not all Social Services' salaries are even paid by local tax dollars, Ledden said. In fact, he explained, of the department's estimated $35 million annual budget, only $11 million is drawn off local coffers.

"We're on a county scale," said Ledden, who earns an estimated $124,000 a year, according to the county's salary information. "Some of the positions do have state money in them, so they're funded by both."

The same holds true for Community Services, executive director Thomas Geib said, in that roughly half the department's approximate $28 million budget came from the county, and the rest from a range of other sources, from the state General Fund to Medicaid insurance to private client fees.

"We serve three disability groups," Geib said, referring to the "mentally ill, intellectually disabled or retarded, and substance abusers. We also serve infants and toddlers at risk of developmental delay, so it's really four groups served."

Some salaries in Community Services, which are predominantly for therapists and other mental health specialists, according to the FOIA information provided by the county, "could be a 50 percent match" from outside sources, Geib said.

On top of that, Manassas and Manassas Park contribute each year between $1 million and $3 million each, he said.

"When you get into different disability groups, our funding structure varies," he continued, adding that his own salary, a reported $138,000, is only half paid for with county dollars. "Our case managers are almost fully funded by Medicaid, whereas mental health therapists are 50-50 funded with state and local."

Salary information shows the pay for mental health therapists ranges dramatically, from around $50,000 to upward of $100,000. Case managers, meanwhile, earn around the mid-$50s to mid-$60s range.

And while it's true that it's sometimes time-consuming and complicated to separate what local dollars versus what outside dollars contribute to what position or division, both Geib and Ledden said money was far from being wasted, and in fact, the amount of services demanded often outweighed the financial ability for each department to provide.

"The county does see a report. In essence, each of the larger departments do comparative studies on what our budgets are … and what the outcomes are," Geib said, explaining that his department employees are hired based on a 'per 100,000 population' formula that compares information with Henrico, Chesapeake, Chesterfield and Fairfax counties.

Those jurisdictions, he said, were chosen for comparison purposes based on a range of qualities, from population to economic base.

Ledden, too, said his department was "not only accountable to the board [of supervisors], but also to the community."

And toward the issue of justification -- whether government's role should even include such services -- both saw similarly.

"Social Services is really about helping people become self-sufficient," which promotes a different mindset than charity and ultimately leads to a more financially secure community for all, Ledden said.

Community Services, meanwhile, "adds to the quality of life and to the safety of individuals in crisis," Geib said, which in turn adds to quality of life of the community as a whole.

"It's certainly a legitimate question," he continued, "but I think definitely [our role is justified] because we are kind of the safety net of the community, and serve the indigent, the low-income or those who have run out of insurance."

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.