Nonprofits brace for budget emergency aftershocks, IOUs - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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While service providers don’t yet know whethe r they’ll receive IOUs — or what the amounts will be Sparky Harlan, CEO of the in Santaw Clara, is prepared for the worst. “Wew receive about $400,000 in state Harlan said. “We’re already accustomed to getting money from the statrlate — last year, for example, it took untilk December before we finally got paid.” For this year and last year the centerd has relied on a $150,00o line of credit through to cover the gap, alongv with $500,000 out of its reserve The center’s operating budget is $10 million for fiscal 2009-10.
The money that may be on hold from thestatd covers, in part, the center’s shelter and drop-inb program, street outreach, and parenting classes. “Thew problem right now is thatwe don’t know for certainn how much they’re going to hold said Harlan, who has been with the center for 26 “But this is by far the worst I’ved ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’s budgeft problems, 10 percent cuts have alreadyg been planned for foster-cared payments. Locally there are 300 to 400 kids infostedr care.
Foster care rates are the same acrossxthe state, so families in high-cost areas such as the Bay Area get the same amounr of compensation as people in more affordablwe places. “We’re fronting half a million dollars she said. It’s a layered problem for the since in addition to state money some comes from the federalp Housing and UrbanDevelopment department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthws for payments tobe received. “We’re hopinh to get paid by July,” she said. “Nonprofits are just gettinh slammed.
” Harlan said the Bill Wilson Centerf has closed down two programs already and cut abou 15 percent ofits staff, leaving aboug 110 employees. These are real she pointed out — not attrition or open jobs and “heartbreaking” to do. “We had to give one stafg person a layoff notice and a week later his wife was laid off fromanothe nonprofit,” she said. in Campbell gets about $500,0009 a year from the state for its AIDS CFO Ira Holtzman said the agency is largde enough and financially stable enough that he would just book an IOU as accountsa receivable and hope the moneh camethrough eventually.
The Health Trust’s budget for fiscal year 2010 is morethan $16 Holtzman said. Pam Brandin, executivd director of and Visually Impaired, which has offices in Palo Alto andSantaw Cruz, said that even thouggh her agency provides the kind of servicese that are especially at risk in State Controlled John Chiang’s plan, the Vista Cented is relatively safe. “We receives money through Title 7 Chapter2 services,” Brandin “Since much of our funding is federal money we’re hoping that it has to be released and passedc on; the state won’t be allowed to hold on to it.” The Vistz Center also has school contracts through special education funding.
“Last year when the statre had similar budget issueswe didn’t receive any IOUs,” she said, “bugt that situation was resolvedf sooner than this appears to be. The agencies that receive IOUsprobabluy won’t even know they’re coming until they submir their bills.” She’s also banking on Vista Center’s statud as a preferred vendor with the state, “s we’ll be paid in advance of othee vendors — if in fact the state is even writing Lisa Hendrickson, president & CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleiner Senior Day Healthy Center in Palo Alto, is also cautiouslg optimistic.
“The only funds we receivew from the state are MediCal payments for servicea provided at our adult daycare she said. “Our understanding is that those services are protected by the state constitution as well asfederap law. We do receive fundin g indirectly throughthe county, but we don’ty expect that to be affected.” Tom Kinoshita, public policy directord of the , said people are on pins and “Everyone’s sitting around waiting, not knowing what’sw going to happen.
But even with the most optimisticdoutcome it’s still going to be very He pointed out that the deficirt last year for Santa Clara County was more than $270 million, and many of the cuts were made in programs around health, mental health, drugs and alcoholp and social services. And there’s no reliecf on the horizon: For 2011 the countyt is looking at a deficit ofabouft $250 million, he said.