Title
Respectfully urging the General Assembly to restore funding for human services programs to historic levels, and to put mechanisms in place to assure any future budget impasse or budget delay does not become a burden on the citizens or City and County of Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, Counties are at the forefront for delivery of crucial human services that protect the most vulnerable individuals, such as child welfare and protective, mental health, intellectual disabilities, substance abuse treatment, homeless assistance, meal programs, lottery-funded transportation, and others; and
WHEREAS, The capacity to meet critical service needs has been compromised by a steady decrease in state funding over the past decade, especially the drastic ten percent aggregate cut to the seven human services line items in FY 2012-2013; and
WHEREAS, The Human Services Block Grant has provided much-needed flexibility for the 30 counties eligible to participate, but remains closed to the remaining 37 counties, including Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, New mandates and additional program requirements continue to be placed on counties in the face of decreasing state funds; and
WHEREAS, While the rebalancing initiative for child welfare services is portrayed as only an accounting change, the initiative shifts a full quarter of funds for mandated child protective services into the following budget year with no more than a promise of being made whole; and
WHEREAS, As a result of the six-month budget impasse in FY 2015-2016, counties and the providers with whom they contract were forced to make difficult decisions about remaining open and meeting clients' needs while state payments were withheld; and
WHEREAS, Many counties tapped reserves, borrowed funds, reduced or suspended payments to vendors or subcontractors, limited staff travel, laid off or reduced hours of employees, among other strategies, to maintain their focus on service delivery and assure that clients fe...
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