The program that provides temporary monthly payments to some of the state's poorest, disabled residents will likely survive further cuts this legislative session, state officials said after a committee hearing Thursday.

Neither legislative staff nor Department of Workforce Services officials are recommending additional cuts to General Assistance, a program that provides short-term financial help to individuals applying for federal disability benefits.

Despite the good news, low-income advocates noted that -- at roughly $3 million -- next year's proposed funding level is several million dollars less than the current General Assistance budget. A one-time special appropriation is not expected to be repeated.

The number of case managers for the program has gone from 44 to 14. Those remaining managers do not meet clients face-to-face, "which means chronically homeless people are getting their case management over the phone," said Melissa Smith, an advocate with Community Action Partnership of Utah.

As of the beginning of this year, no new General Assistance clients were accepted due to budgetary constraints. That is expected to change next fiscal year, beginning July 1.