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

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While service providers don’t yet know whether they’ll receivde IOUs — or what the amounts will be Sparky Harlan, CEO of the in Santa Clara, is preparex for the worst. “We receive about $400,000 in state Harlan said. “We’re already accustomefd to getting money from the statelate — last for example, it took until December befores we finally got paid.” For this year and last year the center has relied on a $150,000 line of credirt through to cover the gap, alongv with $500,000 out of its reservw funds. The center’s operating budget is $10 milliomn for fiscal 2009-10.
The money that may be on hold from thestatwe covers, in part, the center’d shelter and drop-in program, streett outreach, and parenting classes. “The problem righty now is thatwe don’t know for certain how much they’rd going to hold back,” said Harlan, who has been with the centefr for 26 years. “But this is by far the worstg I’ve ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’x budget problems, 10 percent cuts have already been plannefdfor foster-care payments. Locally there are 300 to 400 kids infoster care.
Foster care rates are the same across the state, so families in high-cost areasx such as the Bay Area get the same amounty of compensation as people in more affordablre places. “We’re fronting half a million dollarws already,” she said. It’s a layeref problem for the center, since in additiobn to state money some comes from the federal Housing and UrbanDevelopmentf department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthz for payments tobe received. “We’re hoping to get paid by she said.
“Nonprofits are just getting Harlan said the Bill Wilson Cented has closed down two programs already and cut about 15 percen t ofits staff, leaving aboutf 110 employees. These are real she pointed out — not attrition or open jobs and “heartbreaking” to do. “We had to give one stafd person a layoff notice and a week later his wife was laid off fromanothef nonprofit,” she said. in Campbell gets about $500,00p0 a year from the state for itsAIDS services.
CFO Ira Holtzma n said the agency is large enough and financially stable enough that he wouldf just book an IOU as accounts receivablwe and hope the money came through TheHealth Trust’s budget for fisca l year 2010 is more than $16 Holtzman said. Pam Brandin, executive director of and Visually which has offices in Palo Alto andSanta Cruz, said that even thoughh her agency provides the kind of serviceds that are especially at risk in Statr Controller John Chiang’s plan, the Vist a Center is relatively “We receive money through Title 7 Chapter 2 Brandin explained.
“Since much of our funding is federalmoneyh we’re hoping that it has to be released and passef on; the state won’t be allowed to hold on to The Vista Center also has school contracts through special education funding. “Last year when the statw had similar budget issueswe didn’ft receive any IOUs,” she “but that situation was resolvesd sooner than this appears to be. The agencies that receivee IOUsprobably won’t even know they’r coming until they submit their bills.
” She’se also banking on Vista Center’s status as a preferred vendofr with the state, “so we’ll be paid in advancer of other vendors — if in fact the state is even writiny checks.” Lisa Hendrickson, president & CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleinetr Senior Day Health Center in Palo is also cautiously optimistic. “The only funds we receive from the state are MediCa payments for services providex at our adultdaycare center,” she said. “Our understandinhg is that those services are protected by the state constitution as well asfederal law. We do receivd funding indirectly throughthe county, but we don’tg expect that to be affected.
” Tom Kinoshita, publixc policy director of the , said peopld are on pins and needles. “Everyone’s sitting around not knowing what’s going to happen. But even with the most optimisticxoutcome it’s still going to be very ugly.” He pointed out that the deficigt last year for Santa Clara County was more than $270 and many of the cuts were made in programx around health, mental health, drugs and alcohok and social services.
And there’s no relieff on the horizon: For 2011 the count is looking at a deficit ofabout $250 million, he