While many employers are struggling to fill vacancies in their workforce, Cardinal Services has 150 openings right now and its chief executive officer, Randy Hall, says he expects the problem to only become more dire.

Cardinal provides services for about 275 adults with developmental disabilities and employs about 470 workers, the majority of whom are caregivers – technically known as direct support professionals or DSPs for short – whose salaries are controlled by Medicaid.

Caregivers work primarily in Cardinal’s day services, work services and residential programs and are viewed as the “backbone”?of the agency, according to Hall.

Starting hourly wages for those positions are $9.35, which Hall terms a poverty-level wage that can’t compete with many other employers including fast food restaurants.

Hall addressed the issue this week with Kosciusko County leaders, including county council Thursday night. On Tuesday, he met with the county commissioners.

Hall talked with county officials about providing additional money that could be used to increase salaries and mentioned specifically using a state law that would allow the county to establish a specific tax rate to help fund Cardinal in much the same way the county already does for Bowen Center, which provides services to people with mental health problems.

He asked that the county consider that option or look at other ways to boost funding.

While Bowen’s tax rate is mandated by the state, a tax rate for Cardinal would be established by the county.

The low wages, along with demographic trends, are combining to create the crisis, Hall said.

Hall said they were warned of the problem 20 years ago, but circumstances are even worse than expected and will continue to grow.

“We face an unprecedented crisis in our workforce and it’s gotta be met,” Hall said.

“This is not a Cardinal problem. This is a community problem,” he said.

Hall points out that almost all the adults  they serve have lifelong disabilities and many do not have families to turn to.

“We are beyond our limits and our abilities to meet the needs of people that are currently in our services,” he said.

While states have a role in it, Congress ultimately controls Medicaid funding.

Lawmakers recently were confronted with significant proposed changes to Medicaid as part of attempts to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care reform law that would have been “a disaster” for agencies such as Cardinal, Hall said.

That plan appears to be shelved even though changes in health care reform legislation continue to loom.

State lawmakers tried to address the ongoing funding gap this year for Medicaid, but Hall said those efforts would not be sufficient if they are eventually realized.

As a result, Cardinal has turned to local leaders.

“We don’t know what else to do,” Hall said. “We don’t see this getting any better.”

While cutting services might sound like a reasonable idea, doing so would further reduce Medicaid reimbursements, which he said would make circumstances worse.

Some council members greeted the urgency of the problem with a sense of understanding, but no decisions were made.

Councilman Ernie Wiggins commended Cardinal on the work they do and pledged to see if the county “can come up with something” to help.

No specific plan was introduced Thursday and officials said addressing the issue would take time.

Cardinal is one of numerous nonprofit groups in the county that receive funding from the county. It is scheduled to get about $94,000 in 2017.