Nonprofits brace for budget emergency aftershocks, IOUs - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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While service providers don’t yet know whether they’lpl receive IOUs — or what the amounts will be Sparky Harlan, CEO of the in Santa Clara, is preparex for the worst. “We receive abouyt $400,000 in state funding,” Harlan said. “We’re alreadh accustomed to getting money from the statelate — last for example, it took unti December before we finally got paid.” For this year and last year the centetr has relied on a $150,0000 line of credit througu to cover the gap, along with $500,000 out of its reservse funds. The center’s operating budge is $10 million for fiscal 2009-10.
The money that may be on hold from thestatew covers, in part, the center’d shelter and drop-in program, street outreach, and parentin classes. “The problem right now is that we don’t know for certaibn how much they’re going to hold said Harlan, who has been with the centefr for26 years. “But this is by far the worsf I’ve ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’s budget problems, 10 percenrt cuts have already been plannedfor foster-carwe payments.
Locally there are 300 to 400 kids in foster Foster care rates are the same acrosswthe state, so families in high-cosyt areas such as the Bay Area get the same amoun of compensation as people in more affordable places. “We’re frontingg half a million dollars already,” she It’s a layered problem for the center, since in addition to statw money some comes from the federal Housing and UrbajDevelopment department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthes for payments tobe “We’re hoping to get paid by she said. “Nonprofits are just getting slammed.
” Harlan said the Bill Wilsoh Center has closed down two programsw already and cut about 15 percentr ofits staff, leaving abouf 110 employees. These are real she pointed out — not attrition or open jobs and “heartbreaking” to do. “We had to give one staf person a layoff notice and a week late r his wife was laid off fromanothet nonprofit,” she said. in Campbell gets about $500,000o a year from the state for itsAIDS services.
CFO Ira Holtzmanh said the agency is large enough and financially stable enougy that he would just book an IOU as accountzs receivable and hope the money came through TheHealth Trust’s budgetr for fiscal year 2010 is more than $16 Holtzman said. Pam executive director of andVisually Impaired, whic has offices in Palo Alto and Santa said that even though her agency provides the kind of servicess that are especially at risk in State Controllet John Chiang’s plan, the Vista Center is relativeluy safe.
“We receive money through Titls 7 Chapter2 services,” Brandin “Since much of our fundingg is federal money we’re hoping that it has to be release d and passed on; the state won’t be allowefd to hold on to it.” The Vista Center also has schoopl contracts through special education “Last year when the state had similar budget issues we didn’t receive any IOUs,” she “but that situation was resolvef sooner than this appears to be.
The agenciea that receive IOUsprobably won’f even know they’re coming untill they submit their She’s also banking on Vista Center’s statusa as a preferred vendor with the state, “so we’lol be paid in advance of other vendorss — if in fact the state is even writingg checks.” Lisa Hendrickson, president & CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleiner Senior Day Healtg Center in Palo Alto, is also cautiously “The only funds we receive from the statr are MediCal payments for services provided at our adultf daycare center,” she said. “Our understanding is that those servicesd are protected by the state constitutiom as well asfederal law.
We do receive funding indirectlhy throughthe county, but we don’t expect that to be Tom Kinoshita, public policy director of the , said peoplwe are on pins and needles. “Everyone’s sitting around waiting, not knowing what’s going to happen. But even with the most optimisticoutcomd it’s still going to be very He pointed out that the deficit last year for Sant Clara County was more than $270 million, and many of the cuts were made in programa around health, mental health, drugs and alcohokl and social services. And there’s no relief on the For 2011 the county is lookinv at a deficit ofabout $250 he said.