March Edition 2011 - New York Nonprofit Press

8 New York Nonprofit Press www.nynp.biz March 2011
TRIPLE POINT THREAT OF VIEW
continued from page 1
Governor Cuomo Proposes $9 Billion in Cuts
is likely to contain significant cuts, particularly in
light of President Obama’s own budget proposal
for FY2011-12 which includes reductions in a
number of programs and a 50% cut to the Community
Services Block Grant which funds Community
Action Agencies.
This next deluge of federal funding reductions
– New York State would lose at least
$1.2billion in just some selected programs – is
likely to trigger an entire new round of budget
cuts at the State and local level.
In the meantime, advocates are attempting
to buck up their courage and put up a fight. The
Human Services Council of New York is coordinating
a new “Who Cares? I Do” campaign,
intended to inform the general public about the
critical importance of human services for all
New Yorkers. Individual sector specific coalitions
are mounting their own battles to fight specific
budget cuts.
Here are at least some details on the specifics
of proposed cuts in the federal, state and city
budgets.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo got the
budget season off to painful start on February
1st when he laid out his plans to eliminate
New York State’s $10 billion budget deficit for
FY2011-2012 which begins on April 1st. As
promised, he relied almost entirely on spending
cuts -- $8.9 billion in recurring spending actions,
or nearly 90 percent of the total plan. The
budget proposes gap-closing actions in almost
every area of state spending and includes yearto-year
reductions in the two largest drivers of
State expenditures, Medicaid and School Aid.
“New York is at a crossroads, and we must
seize this opportunity, make hard choices and
set our state on a new path toward prosperity,”
Governor Cuomo said. “We simply cannot afford
to keep spending at our current rate. Just
like New York’s families and businesses have
had to do, New York State must face economic
reality. This budget achieves real, year-to-year
savings while restructuring the way we manage
our state government. This is the first step toward
building a new New York.”
The Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management
Presents
CONSULTING DAY
FOR NEW YORK CITY’S NONPROFIT COMMUNITY
SAVE THE DATE!
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 2011,
8:30AM-4:00PM
Baruch College, William and Anita Newman Vertical Campus
Newman Campus Conference Center, 14th Floor - 55 Lexington Avenue @ 24th Street
COST: FREE
A Great Opportunity for You To:
• Meet one-on-one with a consultant and discuss the challenges facing your
organization in areas including:
Budgeting, Finance, & Accounting
Entrepreneurship & Social Enterprise
Executive Director
Faith-Based Organizations
Financial management
Fundraising
How to Approach Philanthropists
Human Resource
Legal Issues
Marketing & Communications
Program Evaluation & Outcomes
Strategic Planning
• Attend workshops led by experts in the nonprofit sector
• Network with over 100 leading nonprofit organizations in NYC
Space is limited – Appointments will be required
Appointments and workshop registrations must be made in advance
Appointments will be given on a first-come, first-served basis
Maximum two consultations in two focus areas per attendee
FOR SPECIFIC OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET WITH CONSULTANTS, AND
FOR RSVP INFORMATION:
www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/researchcenters/nonprofitstrategy/events.php
PLEASE NOTE: Consultants providing advice in connection with this event are
doing so as individuals. Consequently, all advice provided is theirs alone. The
Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management at Baruch College School of
Public Affairs assumes no responsibility for it.
Many of the details of what certainly would
be devastating cuts to vital services remain unclear,
even after Cuomo’s presentation of his
Executive Budget on February 1st. In large
part, this is due to the Governor’s use of special
commissions to identify the specifics of billions
in “savings”, creation of new block grants
to mask cuts in specific services, and substantial
transfers of funding responsibility from the
State to localities and school districts.
Medicaid
In one of the largest and most complex
areas of the State budget, the Governor tasked
his Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) to identify
$2.85 billion in savings and submit their recommendations
to him by March 1st. (See: article
on page 11.)
“Including the commensurate loss of federal
matching funds, the Governor’s proposed
health care cuts amount to approximately $15
billion over two years,” said Daniel Sisto, President
of the Healthcare Association of New York
State (HANYS). “This is the largest cut to
health care services in New York State’s history.
Even within the context of our fiscal crisis, the
magnitude of these cuts is extreme. I am gravely
concerned about the expectation that the Governor’s
Medicaid Redesign Team can identify
alternative reforms to substitute for this level of
reduction. The Medicaid Team does not need
more health experts. It will require alchemists,
not policy wonks or providers, to transform cuts
of this magnitude into gold.”
Education
On the education front, the Governor is
proposing another cut of $2.85 billion, relative
to current financial plan projections for
FY2011-12 -- a year-to-year reduction of $1.5
billion compared to spending for FY 2010-11.
This represents a 7% reduction in state aid to
education. Local school districts, the Governor
argued, can make up for the cut through use of
$1.2 billion in existing reserves, $600 million
in left over federal funding and other management
efficiencies. Cuomo took aim at local district
administrations, noting that 40% of school
district superintendents receive salaries and
benefits of $200,000 or higher. He questioned
“why they get paid more than the governor of
the state”. “Let’s find savings within the bureaucracy,”
he said.
Direct Operations and
Consolidation of Services
The Governor’s budget proposes a variety
of ways to restructure state government and find
efficiencies and savings – many with implications
for the provision of human services.
The budget reduces General Fund State Operations
spending by 10 percent at State agencies.
Commissioners and agency heads will be
instructed to maximize savings in non-personal
services. The Governor also intends to achieve
workforce savings, including the negotiation
of a wage freeze. Contracts covering the vast
majority of State employees are up for renewal
at the outset of the 2011-12 State Fiscal Year.
“If workforce savings cannot be accomplished
jointly, as a last resort up to 9,800 layoffs would
be necessary,” said the Governor.
The Executive Budget proposes to merge
or consolidate 11 separate State entities into
four agencies to streamline and eliminate duplicative
bureaucracy, better align State responsibilities
with need and improve services
through superior coordination. Proposals include
merging the Department of Correctional
Services and the Division of Parole into the
new Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision; and consolidating the Office
for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, the
Office of Victim Services and the State Commission
of Correction into the Division of
Criminal Justice Services.
The Governor is also proposing to reduce
excess capacity in prisons, youth detention and
mental hygiene facilities. To speed this process,
he is proposing to eliminate the statutory
12-month notification prior to closures.
Actions for youth and mental hygiene facilities
will be taken following analysis of vacancy
rates, service utilization, and other factors.
The budget calls for reducing the number
of juvenile justice facility beds operated by
Office of Children and Families (OCFS) by approximately
30 percent and replacing them with
community-based programs.
For prisons, actions to eliminate an estimated
3,500 prison beds will be implemented
pursuant to recommendations of a task force
created by Executive Order. Interestingly, the
task force will identify affected facilities – and
the communities in which they are located – after
the budget is scheduled to be approved. The
budget does allocate $100 million in economic
development aid for affected areas.
Funding Shifts and Reductions
in Aid
The governor also reduced levels of funding
for localities by 2% -- except for New
York City where the Mayor claims that there
was a 100% reduction -- and proposed a variety
of other funding shifts, many with significant
implications for individual program sectors.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg immediately
claimed that the Governor’s budget had cut $2
billion in funding for the City. Among the human
service program areas where the Governor
proposes to reduce or eliminate State share expenditures
(along with the state’s estimates of
the savings) are:
• Support for severely disabled students in residential
schools, i.e. CSE placements, eliminated
($69 million);