Nonprofits brace for budget emergency aftershocks, IOUs - Birmingham Business Journal:

borislavamcoc.blogspot.com
While service providers don’t yet know whether they’ll receiv IOUs — or what the amounts will be — Spark y Harlan, CEO of the in Santa Clara, is preparerd for the worst. “We receive about $400,000 in state funding,” Harlab said. “We’re already accustomed to gettint money from the statdlate — last year, for example, it took until December before we finally got paid.” For this year and last year the centefr has relied on a $150,000 line of credit through to cover the gap, alonvg with $500,000 out of its reserve The center’s operating budget is $10 millio n for fiscal 2009-10.
The monety that may be on hold from the state in part, the center’s shelter and drop-inm program, street outreach, and parentin classes. “The problem right now is that we don’g know for certain how much they’rre going to hold back,” said Harlan, who has been with the centeer for26 years. “But this is by far the worsty I’ve ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’s budgegt problems, 10 percent cuts have already been plannefor foster-care payments. Locally there are 300 to 400 kids infostee care.
Foster care rates are the same across the so familiesin high-cost areas such as the Bay Area get the same amoungt of compensation as peoplw in more affordable places. “We’re frontiny half a million dollars already,” she said. It’s a layeree problem for the center, sinc e in addition to state money some comesz from the federal Housing and UrbanmDevelopment department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthsa for payments tobe received. “We’re hoping to get paid by she said. “Nonprofits are just getting slammed.
” Harlan said the Bill Wilsom Center has closed down two programs alreadyh and cut about 15 percent of its leaving about110 employees. These are real layoffs, she pointed out — not attrition or open jobs and “heartbreaking” to do. “Wwe had to give one staff person a layoff notice and a week late his wife was laid off fromanother nonprofit,” she in Campbell gets about $500,000 a year from the statd for its AIDS services. CFO Ira Holtzman said the agencty is large enough and financially stable enough that he wouldd just book an IOU as accounts receivable and hope the money camethrough eventually.
The Healthb Trust’s budget for fiscal year 2010 is morethan $16 Holtzman said. Pam Brandin, executive director of and Visually Impaired, which has offices in Palo Alto and Santaa Cruz, said that even thougbh her agency provides the kind of services that are especiallyu at risk in State Controller John Chiang’sz plan, the Vista Center is relatively “We receive money through Title 7 Chapte 2 services,” Brandin explained. “Since much of our funding is federalmoney we’re hoping that it has to be releasex and passed on; the state won’t be allowefd to hold on to it.” The Vista Centeer also has school contracts through special education funding.
“Last year when the states had similar budget issueswe didn’t receives any IOUs,” she said, “but that situatiom was resolved sooner than this appears to be. The agenciesd that receive IOUsprobably won’t even know they’re coming until they submit their She’s also banking on Vista Center’ds status as a preferred vendor with the state, “s we’ll be paid in advanc of other vendors — if in fact the state is even writing checks.” Lisa Hendrickson, president CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleinefr Senior Day Health Center in Palo is also cautiously optimistic.
“The only funds we receivde from the state are MediCal payments for services provide d at our adult daycare she said. “Our understanding is that thoses services are protected by the state constitutiom as well asfederal law. We do receivr funding indirectly through the butwe don’t expecg that to be affected.” Tom Kinoshita, publifc policy director of the , said peopls are on pins and “Everyone’s sitting around waiting, not knowing what’s goingy to happen.
But even with the most optimistixcoutcome it’s still going to be very He pointed out that the deficig last year for Santa Clara County was more than $270 and many of the cuts were made in programs arounx health, mental health, drugs and alcohol and sociapl services. And there’s no relief on the horizon: For 2011 the count y is looking at a deficiy ofabout $250 million, he