Topeka ? Cottonwood Inc. is having a hard time keeping its workers.

“Our turnover in the past year has been somewhere between 80 and 90 percent,” said Kara Walters, director of residential services at Cottonwood, Douglas County’s program for developmentally disabled adults.

Cottonwood associates, from left, Danny Keiffer, Steven Petrie, Sheri Holmes, Shana Goins, Ted Meddey, Carl Clayton and Lois Hickel applaud a speaker during a rally about funding for community services for people with disabilities. Wednesday's protest at the Statehouse in Topeka, sponsored by InterHab, drew about a thousand protesters.

“We have people tell us they love the work, they love the people and they’d like to stay, but they can’t afford to not for what we pay,” she said. “So they move on, and that ends up harming our consumers by taking away the stability they need.”

Walters and about 25 others from Cottonwood on Wednesday were in Topeka for a rally at the Statehouse, where legislators began their wrap-up deliberations on how to close a $750 million gap in the budget.

The rally drew more than 1,000 clients and workers from community programs from across the state.

Last week, a House-Senate conference committee restored proposed cuts in funding for the state’s community programs for the developmentally disabled.

But there’s no new money in the budget for wages.

At Cottonwood, starting pay for a worker in the residential program is $7.75 an hour.

Justin Appleberry has been at Cottonwood six years. Now a residential supervisor in charge of six homes and 25 workers, he is paid $25,000 a year.

“It’s a constant struggle,” he said. “You can flip burgers and make the same money and not take on the kind of responsibility we deal with every day.”

Lawmakers did not add money to the budget to reduce waiting lists for services, either.

“Break-even doesn’t get it for us,” said Alice Lackey, executive director at the Nemaha County Training Center in Seneca. “We’ve still got people waiting for services, and we’re still dealing with a labor shortage and constant turnover. We’ve been held down for way too long.”

Wages paid by community programs have increased only 7 percent in eight years, said Tom Laing, executive director at Interhab, a state association representing the programs.

For the same period, he said, private-sector wages have gone up 61 percent; state hospital workers’ pay increased by 54 percent.

Interhab announced plans Tuesday to file a lawsuit accusing the state of failing to provide the level of financial support required by state and federal law.

“We believe they’re $80 million below the legal measurement of what’s adequate and reasonable,” Laing said.

Margert Hodan, a Cottonwood client since graduating from the special education program at McLouth High School last year, was at the rally.

“We need more money, big time,” she said.

Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, agreed. “They’ve been underfunded for years,” she said. “I’m all for them.”

Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, said he was, too. “They have my vote,” he said, adding that Lawrence legislators Sloan, Praeger, and Reps. Troy Findley and Barbara Ballard are willing to raise taxes.

“We’re not the problem,” he said.