Georgia Richardson just wants to do some good.

But a state Senate bill passed last week aimed at eliminating some of Michigan's $942 million budget deficit may soon lower her wages, and her incentives, for doing so.

The Oak Park resident, who three days per week provides assistance as a home care worker to a Detroit senior citizen, said the Republican-backed proposal could break her personal budget - and her heart.

"Could I afford to keep doing this? Probably not," Richardson, 59, said in a quivering voice while seated next to Mildred Lewis, the 71-year-old woman for whom she works. "I came into this just wanting to help. I didn't expect to get this close to someone."

Under the Senate plan, the state would save more than $15 million by reducing the wages and hours for privately-contracted workers like Richardson, who care for 40,000-plus low-income seniors and the disabled. The bill would reduce wages for home care workers, already among the lowest paid in the mental health system, to $7 per hour and eliminate a 2-percent wage increase passed last year by the Michigan Legislature.

The Senate bill is part of a Republican-backed proposal steeped in spending cuts that the Democratic-controlled House probably won't pass, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm would likely veto if it did. But it demonstrates the wide range of options up for discussion as state leaders try to work their way out of a looming budget crisis.

Some community mental health officials worry reduced wages would make it more difficult to staff the $7.50-$10 per hour positions, where high turnover rates are common and competing service industry jobs offer similar pay and better benefits.

For Richardson, it's not all about the money. Three days per week she travels to the 12th floor of Lewis' Harriet Truman apartment building in Detroit, helping her get into and out of the bathtub, fixing breakfast, driving her to doctor appointments, ensuring she takes prescribed medication, making the bed, washing laundry and keeping indoor plants alive.

"It's a lot of work," Richardson said. "Sometimes I come here and she's in tears from the (arthritis) pain in her legs. It breaks my heart."

But a $300 paycheck and a 40- to 60-hour monthly workload doesn't pay for much, she said, especially when taxes, union dues, travel and personal expenses must be deducted. She said the Senate plan could cost her a part-time job she loves; Lewis could lose services she now relies upon.

"Having Georgia here means I can get around," Lewis said. "It means a lot to have her with me."

Richardson works full-time in Farmington Hills as a real estate agent and recently declined a "regular" job because it didn't allow her the flexibility to continue as Lewis' home care worker.

"Sometimes I think, 'You need to quit,'" she said. "But I would try to do it as long as I could ... as long as she needed me."

The head of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority worries the proposed cuts could repel potential applicants.

Director Jeff Brown said he would understand if certified home care workers bristled at reduced and frozen wages. Mostly, he's concerned the state could renege on a $1.78 million budget promise made to his organization last fall. The money has funded a 14-cent-per-hour pay raise for Oakland County home care workers.

To date, the authority has received about half the money, which workers could be asked to refund.

"That's a $900,000 problem I'm not interested in passing off on the direct care staff," Brown said.

Meanwhile, the appetite for home care workers keeps growing. In 2006, Brown said, 17,000 Oakland County clients were served, representing the third consecutive year of double-digit increases.

"The demand is doing nothing but escalate," he said. "We feel we have been underfunded for a long time."

Brown also worries the most vulnerable are being singled out. Authority clients include the developmentally disabled, individuals with persistent mental illness, children with severe emotional disturbances in the family and Medicaid-eligible individuals with substance abuse problems.

State Sen. Mike Bishop said he appreciates the value home care workers provide, but insists the Republican plan tackles a state budget run amok.

"None of these cuts were made easily," Bishop said, adding that financial stability must take precedence. "These are all short-term solutions to solve the budget problems we have right now. We are in a box. We have to cut ourselves out."

Richardson said the Senate's best is not good enough.

"I would love to see the state Senate spend just one day or one week doing what we do for these clients," she said. "I think they'd find out what I found out: Seniors and handicapped people need someone to help them."

Cynthia Waldrop agrees. The 46-year-old Hemlock resident has worked as a home care worker for 25 years. Last year, she earned about $6,000, and combined with her husband's disability retirement, the couple earned less than $20,000.

"It's not worth $7 an hour doing my job, but I do it because I love my work," said Waldrop, who visits two elderly homebound clients six days per week, bathing, transporting and helping them. Last November, she received her first pay raise - to $7 per hour.

Waldrop followed the Senate bill. "It's very easy to take funding away from someone like me, then stick my clients in a nursing home and give the money to a big business. That's just ridiculous. I make a quarter, or less, of what it costs for a nursing home."

Bishop said tough budget decisions are essential.

"This is the worst condition Michigan has ever been in," he said. "We're on a collision course for bankruptcy in this state."