The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners heard a briefing Oct. 22 from county officials about the impact of federal and state budget cuts on the county.
The briefing was the second -- the first was on Oct. 17 -- on the impact of the cuts in preparation for a Nov. 7 board meeting to make decisions on how the county should continue to provide essential services despite the federal and state reductions.
Because the federal and state governments were still completing their budgets last June when the county Board of Commissioners adopted the county’s budget for the current fiscal year, the board included $1 million in contingency for just that backfilling purpose.
“It is a backfill for people we are already serving.’’ Chair Marissa Madrigal said at the Oct. 22 briefing. “I view these steps as keeping the programs whole temporarily so that this spring we can consider the totality of our decisions.”
One-time-only money accounts for $800,000 of that $1 million contingency, and $200,000 in ongoing funds makes up the rest.
The request of that total $1 million in contingency is $763,444, leaving a balance of $236,556.
The request breaks down to:
- $313,000 for adult re-entry enhancement coordination in the Department of Community Justice. The funding would maintain current service level funding for 150 clients who receive intensive alcohol-and-drug outpatient treatment, housing with mentoring and job services;
- A combined $229,375 for two Aging & Disability Services access and early intervention services programs in the Department of County Human Services. The funding would provide thousands of meals for older adults, and help to lessen impacts of contracted community services for older adults, such as family caregiver respite programs and counseling on public benefits;
- and in the Health Department--$146,000 for the Women, Infants and Children program; $41,409 for emergency preparedness and $33,660 for early childhood services in the Healthy Birth Initiative.
“The story is there are some are some losses we are not willing to accept,” said county Chief Operating Officer Joanne Fuller.
The first briefing on Oct. 17 came just hours after the federal shutdown ended, and the federal debt limit was increased for another three months. At that briefing, federal lobbyist Dan Bates told the county board that Congress will need to tackle these same issues in a short time -- with the impact on the county of the congressional decisions an unknown.
“We will be going through this discussion again in three months,” Bates said. “What I can promise you is more uncertainty.”