LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The Metro Council budget committee knows it won't be easy.
"There's going to be pain when you're dealing with that number in the number we have," Councilman Mark Fox, D.-District 13, said.
The budget committee is looking for $35 million in savings in the upcoming budget due to the growing pension obligation and the Metro Council's decision to not raise taxes. The proposed cuts have left some people disappointed and they voiced their concerns in front of the committee Tuesday afternoon, pleading their case.
"There are 500 children in this Louisville area that are similar to the kid that I was," Eric Tandrian with Big Brothers Big Sisters said. "Some of them are going to be on the waiting list for years if we don't get more funding for the program."
"Once you lose, you'll never get it back," James Kaiser, speaking for Cherokee Golf Course, said. "And we've had these same courses all my life."
For some programs, like the Volunteers of America's family emergency shelter, the proposed cuts may spell the end.
"We truly cannot sustain any additional cuts," Jennifer Hancock with Volunteers of America said. "We'll be forced to close this program in July, and possibly our eviction prevention program that also provides early interventions."
Others said while the cuts to funding will hurt, they will be able to adapt.
"We would have to make adjustments but I don't believe we would be in a position to close the service," Karyn Hascal with The Healing Place said.
But even scaling back on services could affect a lot of people. Geneva Robinson with Centerstone's Crisis and Information Center said the program took 64,000 calls for help in 2018 and that the proposed cuts would mean her staff would be answering around 15,000 fewer calls.
"If someone that you care about and love, a parent, your spouse, your child, is sitting in a dark room at 2 in the morning with a loaded gun in their lap needing someone to give them some reason to not pull the trigger, you probably hope and expect that a hotline like ours is going to be there," Robinson said.
"This gives us a great opportunity to open up the dialogue to talk to our citizens, to talk to the places where our money is going and to also solicit input on how we can streamline things into doing better," Fox said.
There will be two more public hearings for people to speak on the proposed budgets: May 16 and May 20. Both hearings begin at 6 p.m.
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