03/05/13 The President of Marshall Starke Development Center, Mike Lintner appeared before the Marshall County Commissioners Monday to update them on how the funds received from the county are used at the Center.

Marshall Starke Development Center currently serves a total of 473 people with a budget of $5.3 million.  A breakdown of those served include 251 adults with 135 being Marshall County residents, 182 children in Head Start with 91 having residence in our county and 40 infants in the Early Head Start program with half living in Marshall County.

  Lintner said they have 185 employees in the industrial work area making plywood reels used by wire customers.  The year to date sales were $353,000.  He also explained that when the program began they had 21 customers but over the years there have been several buy-outs and their customer base is now only 3. 

Marshall Starke Development has 98 folks involved in their day program and 37 adults in the job placement program.  Of those 37, 19 are currently employees and have follow-along staff helping to assure a good fit for the job while 17 are currently looking for job placement. 

The Center provides daily round trip transportation for 41 Marshall County citizens. They do contract with Older Adult Services to transport 8 of those adults.  The per-trip roundtrip cost is $21.74 and they are reimbursed $9.60 by the state so the bottom line is a lost o f $12.14 per person per day.  That averages out to approximately $100,000 a year.  Lintner said, “That’s where the bulk of the county funds are used.  They subsidize the transportation cost.” 

Lintner also spoke to fuel costs.  For the first 6 months of this fiscal year Marshall Starke has spent $78,664 and of that, $42,417 was purchased at the County Highway saving them approximately $.50 to $.60 a gallon. 

Mike Lintner said, “We appreciate the support we receive from the County and wanted to come before you to let you know how the funds received are used and not be here asking for anything.”

Lintner said the sequester will have an immediate affect on Marshall Starke Development.  During a phone call on Friday the Director of Head Start in Washington D.C. said the plan to lose at least 5% now.”