The effect of federal budget cuts will be felt by one more local office beginning next month.

Starting in mid-August, the Cullman branch office of the U.S. Social Security Administration will cut back slightly on its in-office visiting hours in a move intended, as Washington-based program administrators hope, to save money.

The change will reduce the time the Cullman office will be open to the public by half an hour each day. That means, beginning August 15, the Cullman branch will open at 8:30 a.m., as it currently does — but it will begin closing at 3 p.m., instead of at 3:30 as it does now.

While the changes will affect the public, they will not result in employees leaving work any sooner. The change only applies to the window of time each day that the office will be open to greet the public — but the 15 employees at the Cullman office will continue to work their full schedules, remaining in the office for the same hours every day, even after the doors close.

The changes will apply on all days the office is open, from Monday through Friday of each week.

The cutback in hours stems from recent Congressional budget cuts that resulted in the Social Security Administration (SSA) receiving an annual operating budget $1 billion less than President Obama had requested, leaving the administration to decide how to implement cost-saving measures in anticipation of the shortfall.

According to a press release issued by the SSA, this year’s budget “[M]akes it impossible for the agency to provide the amount of overtime needed to handle service to the public as we have in the past.

“While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face service with the visiting public without incurring the cost of overtime.”

In an attempt to deflect an inundation of customer traffic once the time change takes effect, the SSA is recommending that persons in need of a service the office provides should begin their contact with the local office via the internet, email or telephone instead of making a walk-in visit, when possible.

“Most Social Security services do not require a visit to an office,” the release states. “For example, anyone wishing to apply for benefits, sign up for direct deposit, replace a Medicare card, obtain a proof-of-income letter or inform us of a change of address or telephone number may do so at www.socialsecurity.gov or by dialing our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213.  People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.”

* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 270.