<p>Local mental health care providers are on edge after learning that a Rocky Mount-based agency that distributes state funds to them is facing a $5.2 million reduction in financing this coming fiscal year.</p><p>The Beacon Center is facing a 67 percent reduction in state financing, or nearly $5.2 million for fiscal year 2009-10 and cuts of $4.9 million for fiscal year 2010-11.</p><p>One of the providers funded through the center is Tri-County Industries, which trains, teaches and employs people with mental disabilities out of an office at 1250 Atlantic Avenue.</p><p>At public hearings last week before Beacon Center officials in Tarboro, Wilson and Rocky Mount, families who are served by Tri-County Industries and other programs voiced concerns about the future of the services in the wake of the cuts.</p><p>Her 39-year-old nephew, Joel Edelman, who was born with a mental disability, relies on Tri-County Industries for much more than just a job, she said. Tri-County Industries enters into outsourcing agreements with local businesses in which its clients are hired to perform tasks such as assembly, sorting and packaging.</p>
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