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

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While service providers don’t yet know whether they’lo receive IOUs — or what the amounts will be — Sparku Harlan, CEO of the in Santa is prepared forthe “We receive about $400,000 in state Harlan said. “We’re already accustomed to gettingg money from the statelate — last year, for it took until December before we finally got For this year and last year the centerr has relied on a $150,000 line of credit throughb to cover the gap, along with $500,00o0 out of its reserve funds. The center’s operatintg budget is $10 million for fiscal 2009-10.
The money that may be on hold from thestatw covers, in part, the center’s shelterf and drop-in program, street outreach, and parenting classes. “The problem right now is that we don’t know for certaijn how much they’re goinf to hold back,” said Harlan, who has been with the centef for26 years. “Buyt this is by far the worsft I’ve ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’ss budget problems, 10 percent cuts have alreadu been plannedfor foster-car e payments. Locally there are 300 to 400 kids infosterr care.
Foster care rates are the same across the so familiesin high-cost areas such as the Bay Area get the same amounft of compensation as people in more affordable places. “We’ree fronting half a million dollars she said. It’s a layered problem for the since in addition to stats money some comes from the federal Housing and UrbanbDevelopment department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthes for payments tobe received. “We’re hopinv to get paid by July,” she “Nonprofits are just getting slammed.
” Harlan said the Bill Wilson Center has closed down two programs already and cut abouyt 15 percent ofits staff, leaving aboutg 110 employees. These are real layoffs, she pointe d out — not attrition or open jobs — and to do. “We had to give one staff person a layoft notice and a week later his wife was laid off fromanotherf nonprofit,” she said. in Campbelll gets about $500,000 a year from the stat e for itsAIDS services. CFO Ira Holtzman said the agency is largew enough and financially stable enough that he woulf just book an IOU as accounts receivable and hope the monet camethrough eventually.
The Health Trust’s budget for fiscal year 2010 is morethan $16 Holtzman said. Pam Brandin, executiv director of and Visually which has offices in Palo Alto andSants Cruz, said that even thoughy her agency provides the kind of services that are especially at risk in State Controller John Chiang’s the Vista Center is relativelu safe. “We receive monety through Title 7 Chapter2 services,” Brandin explained. “Since much of our funding is federa lmoney we’re hoping that it has to be released and passeed on; the state won’tf be allowed to hold on to it.” The Vists Center also has school contracts throughh special education funding.
“Last year when the statee had similar budget issueswe didn’ receive any IOUs,” she said, “buyt that situation was resolved sooner than this appearzs to be. The agencies that receive IOUsprobablyt won’t even know they’re comintg until they submit their She’s also banking on Vista Center’s status as a preferredd vendor with the state, “so we’ll be paid in advances of other vendors — if in fact the state is even writing checks.” Lisa Hendrickson, president CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleiner Seniotr Day Health Center in Palo Alto, is also cautiouslgy optimistic.
“The only funds we receive from the state are MediCap payments for services provided at our adultdaycare center,” she said. “Our understandiny is that those servicea are protected by the state constitution as well asfederal law. We do receive funding indirectlg throughthe county, but we don’t expecrt that to be affected.” Tom public policy director of the , said peopl e are on pins and needles. “Everyone’sz sitting around waiting, not knowing what’z going to happen.
But even with the most optimisticxoutcome it’s still going to be very He pointed out that the defici t last year for Santa Claraq County was more than $270 and many of the cuts were made in programsz around health, mental health, drugs and alcohol and socialo services. And there’s no relief on the For 2011 the county is lookinvg at a deficit ofabout $250 he said.