A series of budget cuts signed last week by Gov. Jerry Brown will force many Humboldt County seniors to live below the federal poverty line and gut many of the services they depend on.

The reductions — which hit everything from Supplemental Security Income to Adult Day Health Care — also may lead to more seniors going into assisted living and nursing home facilities, according to a host of Humboldt County senior advocates, who believe the cuts may cost the state more money in the long run.

”We’re into a classic penny-wise, pound-foolish situation here,” said Cynthia Denbo, executive director of the Area 1 Agency on Aging.

Denbo and others said it’s also imperative to view the cuts’ cumulative affect and not to look at each in an isolated vacuum.

”I guess you would say it’s an avalanche effect, and that effect is falling on the same people,” Denbo said. “Everywhere those people turn, he or she is going to find it harder to stay afloat, harder to stay healthy and harder to stay independent.”

Faced with a projected $26.6 billion budget deficit, Brown has proposed a balanced plan addressing the shortfall with an equal amount of cuts and new revenues from proposed tax extensions. Brown’s proposed cuts would have gutted many of the state’s safety net programs for the frail and the elderly, but the Legislature tempered back some, leaving programs intact but greatly scaled back.

Brown needs a total of four Republicans votes — two in each house — to trigger a special election asking voters to approve five-year extensions to the state’s vehicle licensing fee and increases to sales and income taxes. So far, there has been little movement in getting Republican support and, with time running out for a June special election, lawmakers have said they may have to turn to an all-cuts budget.

Experts on the North Coast said Monday that while many specifics of the cuts already enacted have yet to be worked out, they promise to have a powerful impact on the area’s senior population. The three biggest cuts on the minds of those who work with local seniors are cuts to Adult Day Health Care, In-Home Support Services and the Multi-purpose Senior Services Program.

The package of bills signed by Brown last week essentially zeroes out funding for Adult Day Health Care, cutting all of the program’s $177 million in state funding. However, based on revisions made by the Legislature, the bills allocate $85 million to form a new program called Keeping Adults from Institutions.

The implications of that are still largely unclear.

”There’s still a lot we don’t know,” said Humboldt Senior Resource Center Executive Director Joyce Hayes, adding that it’s currently unknown whether the $85 million in funding will go toward caring for current Adult Day Health Care clients or toward creating this new program.

Currently, Hayes said, the average daily Adult Day Health Care attendance in the county is more than 130 people, spread between facilities in Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata. And, she said, it’s important for people to know that it’s much more than a day care program.

”What I think is really critical about Adult Day Health is it’s not just a social program,” she said. “What goes on during that day is nursing care, physical therapy, speech therapy, a good nutritious meal, occupational therapy and more.”

Another major cut signed by Brown last week was a 12.5 percent cut to the Multi-purpose Senior Services Program, which had originally been slated for full-scale termination.

The program, which acts as a kind of case management system for more than 125 local seniors, helps seniors identify obstacles to their staying in their homes and works to address them.

”The whole purpose is to keep people out of skilled health and nursing programs,” Hayes said.

When it comes to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), which Brown also initially recommended for elimination and then for an 8.4 percent across-the-board cut, a couple of pilot programs might come to its rescue, according to Tri-County Independent Living Systems Change Advocate Cindy Calderon.

The Legislature opted to forgo the cuts in favor of a medication compliance program, aimed at helping seniors and dependent adults take their medications on time, and a “Community First Choice Option” program that is slated to take over care for many people currently enrolled in IHSS, Calderon said.

The hope, according to Calderon, is that the new medication program will yield more than $130 million in savings and that the IHSS-alternative program will trigger more federal funds. However, if those ideas fail to bear fruit, Calderon said, the proposed 8.4 percent cut would become a reality.

Calderon also was quick to add that things might change.

”It’s such a fluid thing,” she said. “Every day it’s changing.”

One change to IHSS that is certain to take effect is a requirement that everyone enrolled in the program receive an evaluation from a medical professional determining that they need the in-home support and without it would likely be forced into an assisted living facility.

With Brown imposing a soft cap on doctor visits for Medi-Cal patients, some said that may prove to be an obstacle to some people receiving the care they need.

”They’ll have to use one of their seven physician visits to jump through this administrative hoop,” said Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Director Phillip Crandall. “On the ground, you have people who are significantly impaired — they’re aged, they have limited access to transportation, physician access is limited — and they’re going to have to weigh all that out against using one of their seven visits.”

Crandall pointed out that the governor signed off on reducing seniors’ Supplemental Security Income payments from $845 a month to $830, bringing the income of recipients — 7,300 of whom are in Humboldt County — to 8 percent below the federal poverty level of $10,830 a year.

”The issue is multiple hits at the same time,” Crandall said. “So, when I speak of a relatively modest $15 reduction, it’s just one of many these seniors are encountering at the same time. It’s really a series of cascading reductions to people on fixed incomes. That’s why it’s important to talk about it more globally.”

Humboldt County programs by the numbers

Adult Day Health Care — serves more than 130 people daily

Multi-purpose Senior Services Program — serves more than 125 local seniors

Supplemental Security Income — 7,300 recipients in Humboldt County

In-Home Supportive Services — 1,600 recipients in Humboldt County