Matt Blunt Declines to Veto Funding

Matt Blunt has granted a reprieve to families with residents in a care facility that he wanted to close. Bellefontaine facility to stay open another year:

As the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center receives a one-year reprieve to stay open, supporters vow to keep working to save the facility.

Gov. Matt Blunt recently signed the state's 2005-2006 state budget, declining to veto the center's budget of $24 million in state and federal funds. The center houses 340 residents and employs 917 workers.

Blunt announced in January he sought to close the center, saying it would save the state about $13.8 million. The announcement caused an uproar with the parents and families of the center's clients, many of whom are mentally disabled.

Matt Blunt was compassionate, but unfortunately he has set himself up. Opponents thrashed him for closing this facility this year, and they vow to hammer him over the same plan next year. That's the thanks he gets for giving them an extra year to make plans.