Minutes 06-12-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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childcare. She said it is likely that the County will be told to stop serving people with children over the age of 5 who are over 133 percent of poverty level. She said the County is currently serving about 125 kids over the age of 5 who fit in that category and would be cut from the state funding. She said funding for all of these children would total about $200,000 for part-time day care. She said that does not factor taking any more children into the program. Commissioner McKee asked if the County can re-structure their County programs to support these people. Nancy Coston said yes. She said the County can have their own local polices that are funded locally. Nancy Coston said a total of 850 children are being served now, and there are 85 on the waiting list Chair Jacobs said the original discussion was to allocate $170,000 of a possible $650,000. He suggested that the remainder be allocated to the social justice fund, or separation of what will be needed for childcare, with the remainder placed in the social justice fund. Nancy Coston said there is funding for child welfare to help make up for some of the cuts that the County experienced a couple of years ago. She said another approach would be to allow the flexibility for some of those funds to come back to childcare. Commissioner McKee said he would support putting the rest of the $650,000 into the social justice fund since there is no way to know what the County will face in this next year. Commissioner Pelissier asked Nancy Coston if there is any way to project how much of the child welfare funds could be transferred to child care. Nancy Coston said there is a formula used to fund this program, and she does not know this formula. She said it will be less than the childcare amount needed, and she guesses it will be around $100,000. She said this will not be known until the fall Commissioner Pelissier noted that Commissioner McKee's suggestion would add about $414, 587 into the social justice fund for DSS needs. Commissioner Pelissier said she was not sure she would want to allocate the whole amount. She feels that whatever dollar amount is allocated, the usage should be clarified. Chair Jacobs said the Board could pass something to authorize the DSS director to appropriate funds as needed over the summer to address childcare needs created by the state legislature. Commissioner porosin said he would be in favor of putting some of the money into DSS now. He suggested an amount of$100,000. Michael Talbert asked what would be needed to get through the summer. Nancy Coston said she is not sure what kids will come up in the summer, but the cost will be higher. She said it would be great to have the money, but the budget can be adjusted as things move along. She said she would guess that it would be no more than $40,000 in the summer. Commissioner Price asked about the effects of the possible state cuts on staffing. Nancy Coston said so far she has not seen this affect her staffing. Commissioner Price said she is willing to do whatever needs to be done for the children. Commissioner Rich said she likes the idea of keeping the bulk amount in the social justice fund and allowing Nancy Coston to appropriate what she needs up to a certain amount for the summertime. She asked how much money comes in through grants. Nancy Coston said the childcare program does not get very many donations. Chair Jacobs suggested putting the $414,000 into the social justice fund and allocating $64,000 to DSS on June 17th for the summer coverage. The Board expressed their agreement.