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Letter to the editor

City cuts hit nonprofits hard

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published July 4, 2007

Social service agencies and arts organizations are scrambling to find new funding sources in the wake of the city's plan to cut money for nonprofits by $2.55-million.

More than 200 organizations might be affected by Mayor Rick Baker's proposed city budget, including the Salvador Dali Museum, the Florida Orchestra, the YMCA of St. Petersburg and First Night.

In lean fiscal times, city officials said they were made to choose between downsizing their own employee payroll, and therefore eliminating some services, and forcing charitable organizations to get by with less help from the city.

"As much as I think there is a huge value in much of what these social service agencies provide, I also think there is huge value in the services city employees provide, " said City Council chairman John Bryan. "There is not many places to cut without looking into social services."

But some nonprofit directors said city officials should have tried harder to find the money elsewhere in the budget.

"I think there is this assumption that we will just tighten our belts, " said Linda Osmundson, executive director of Community Action Stops Abuse Inc. "But we don't have a belt to tighten. My staff is getting paid $22, 000 a year and they have families. I can't ask them to live on less than that."

In many ways, the neediest residents, people who will not benefit from the property tax reform plan, stand to lose the most.

The nine-page list of cuts includes a diverse assortment of nonprofit agencies that provide basic services such as housing, employment placement and elderly care to residents who are most likely not property owners, local charity directors said.

Curtis Anderson, vocational and youth service director of Boley Centers Inc., said 160 youngsters will be out of a job next summer because of the city's proposed budget cuts.

The $300, 000 from the city was used to subsidize the agency's summer jobs programs for low-income youths, Anderson said. Last year, 800 names were on the program's waiting list.

"This is a program that is really needed in the community, " Anderson said. "Many of the children are from Midtown, which the city has committed to improving. But if kids don't have any constructive things to do, they tend to do negative things..."

CASA, a shelter for women and children, might have to close its facility if it does not find alternative funding by October, when the city's current $33, 000 grant will run out, Osmundson said.

That money was used to cover the salary of the shelter's house manager, who ensures the shelter is clean and that the residents are fed. The shelter houses 500 women and children annually on average.

Reducing services to the city's neediest is not what taxpayers had in mind when they demanded elected officials trim fat out of the budget, Osmundson said. "If you don't own a house, you aren't getting anything out of it and you are losing some of the social services that help make your life possible, " she said. "I think this is just a grand excuse for the city to walk out of doing anything to help people."

In protest of the cuts, some nonprofit agencies pointed to the city's continued financial support of business ventures operating out of the Mahaffey Theater, the Pier and Tropicana Field. In all three instances, the city has entered into operating agreements with for-profit organizations.

The city subsidizes certain ventures for quality of life. Last year alone, the city paid $2-million in property insurance for Tropicana Field.

But Clay Smith, assistant director of the city's downtown enterprise facilities, said the city is locked into all three agreements by contract.

"We can't just say, okay guys, we don't want to do this anymore, " he said. "And even if we didn't have these agreements, we would still have to pay property insurance" for Tropicana Field.

The city might eventually reinstate some grant funding, but for now taxpayers need to step up to the plate and donate to these ailing organizations, Byran said.

However, some agencies said they foresaw the proposed cuts months ago and tailored their budgets accordingly.

Neighborly Care Network Inc. stands to lose about $73, 000 because of the proposed budget cuts, but it has no plans to reduce its services, said Debra Shade, president of the nonprofit.

The elderly care organization is seeking new grants and absorbing the loss by not taking on any new clients, Shade said.

"If we have to hold bake sales every week, we will do whatever we have to do to continue our services, " she said.

Budget cuts

On the chopping block are social service agencies, art organizations and annual events. A sampling:

Mainsail Arts Festival

$11, 000

Festival of States

$75, 000

Salvador Dali Museum

$22, 139

St. Petersburg Free Clinic

$22, 000

Head Start Child Development & Family Services

$7, 500

[Last modified July 3, 2007, 21:10:52]