The Price of Service Cuts: Cash Flow to Human Services Providers Dwindles, Leading to Layoffs
August 6, 2009
Deep cuts to public services are being considered in Harrisburg as state lawmakers and the Governor work to resolve the budget crisis. PBPC is tracking news reports on the impact of these cuts on local communities across Pennsylvania.
Today, we look at staff cuts made in Crawford County as service providers have gone almost a month and a half without funds while demand for food, shelter and social services increases.
The Meadville Tribune reported August 6 that Crawford County has not been able to pay some vendors for crucial emergency services, leading to staff cuts by those vendors at a time when more and more people are in need of services. As a result, program staff are worried that families and children will suffer.
More information about how proposed cuts will hurt Pennsylvanians can be found at PBPC's 30 Ways in 30 Days Service Cuts Will Hurt Pennsylvanians, which examines proposed cuts to public education, college costs, hospitals, children's health care, senior services, state police patrols, and agricultural programs, among other areas. Return to the Price of Service Cuts.
Read the full article below.
Local cuts could follow state budget impasse: Plan to pay state employees does nothing to relieve burden on social services
By Mary Spicer
August 6, 2009
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/local_story_218234815.html?start:int=0
With paychecks for approximately 77,000 state workers finally on the way, it may appear to a casual observer that the anxiety level surrounding Pennsylvania’s long-delayed state budget has dropped significantly.
For many in Crawford County, however, the wait goes on. And on.
“Just because state employees are getting paid, everyone has a false sense that things are back to normal,” Linda Bennett, executive director of Meadville’s Center for Family Services, said Thursday. “They’re not — and it’s going to get worse. I’m glad state workers are getting paid, but this budget delay is still affecting so many human services.”
Funding for countless state programs was not included in the partial budget bill signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday — and the local people who make those programs happen are calling on state legislators for help.
Ironically, the budget impasse comes at the same time people who have never asked for help before are asking for help because of layoffs, Bennett said. In June, for example, Center for Family Services provided cash assistance for 22 families — a total of 47 individuals. For August, the center has received approximately 75 calls seeking cash assistance.
“This is a nightmare for our providers and our consumers,” David Crowe, the county’s human services director, agreed during a Thursday interview.
Earlier in the day, Crowe brought Crawford County commissioners up to speed on the current fiscal plight of human services in the county.
So far, all county employees — and some vendors — are being paid. However, a long list of vendors — including the agency’s landlord at Crawford Business Park, the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County — aren’t. “These people are operating without remuneration — and I can’t do anything about it,” Crowe said, referring to the site that houses many county employees.
During the course of a year, more than $20 million in state and federal funding comes into the county through Harrisburg to fund various programs. Crowe listed CHAPS, Stairways, Bethesda Children’s Home and Hermitage House as just a few of the larger provider groups in the county whose payments for contracted services have also stopped.
While Crowe hasn’t heard of any providers about to close their doors, “if all of a sudden somebody is not going to be able to provide services because they can’t afford to, plans have to be made to provide those services,” he said. “I’ve asked the county to be patient with us — and maintain the number of people we have so we can maintain our case-management services,” Crowe said. “If that’s not there, we have nothing.”
Meadville’s Center for Family Services isn’t talking about closing any doors — but the cutting off of payments from the state meant that tough decisions had to be made during a Wednesday night board meeting. “We carried on as usual in July,” Bennett said. “We just made do. But now we can’t. We just don’t have the cash flow.”
The individual in charge of the center’s homeless assistance grant was laid off Wednesday. Starting next week, Bennett’s five-day work week will be reduced to three. The hours of the part-time employee handling the center’s Best Foot Forward program have been cut from 20 hours per week to 15.
In June, the center’s Meadville facility and six satellite pantries provided 1,221 boxes of food to assist a total of 3,069 individuals countywide. That’s 219 more boxes — and 515 more people — than June 2008. “We’re going to run out of food by the end of the month — if not before,” Bennett said “Then what are we going to do?”
For Bennett, a bright spot remains. “Thank goodness United Way is still supporting us,” she said. “We can still help some people, but the bulk of what we do was funded by the state.”
Childcare providers serving families qualifying for subsidized care through the state-funded Child Care Information Services program are also feeling the pinch. Judy Ventresca, executive director of YWCA of Meadville, the organization that administers the CCIS grants for Crawford and Venango counties, told Crawford County Commissioners during their Tuesday work session that the YWCA has increased its line of credit with a local bank so the CCIS offices themselves can remain open and operational — but the organization will not be able to pay its providers until the budget impasse ends. Ventresca said she knows of 17 CCIS offices in Pennsylvania not paying their providers for services rendered in July — “and no providers will be paid in August.”
