Pulaski County Human Services will have to wait a bit longer before it gets more money from the county. The county council decided Monday to hold off on an additional appropriation of $15,000 until council members have a chance to review the county’s budget.
Executive Director Jacki Frain says that money would boost the organization’s county funding back up to its usual level of $45,000. She told council members the budget cut has led to cash flow issues, as the organization waits for its regular reimbursement for transportation services. “The budget’s fine; it’s not having the cash resources,” she explained. “If we could afford 100 percent of all of our program without ever getting help, then we would never write grants. But when you’re not getting your funding for five or six months from the beginning of the year and we ended the year in a deficit because of that shortage from last year – that’s how tight it is.”
Frain added that those challenges caused Pulaski County Human Services to fall behind in its tax payments. County officials received notification that Human Services owed over $100,000 in back taxes, resulting in a property lien. County commissioners and council members were concerned that lien was on county property. County Attorney Kevin Tankersley was unable to find any indication of that in the documentation provided but agreed to review it further. He noted that Human Services is a separate entity and not under the county’s control.
However, Frain told Council President Jay Sullivan that Human Services is now caught up with its tax payments. “We wait six months to get our funding, and we had that $15,000 cut last spring. That put us behind in the quarters, but it’s current,” she explained. “We borrowed it, and every time we get a reimbursement, we pay a little more. But we are current, and we’re staying current.”
For now, the county council decided to table the additional appropriation request. Member Linda Powers explained that the council hasn’t been getting regular budget updates since Auditor Laura Wheeler took over in January. “We’ve been doing a lot of additionals, and I don’t feel comfortable continuing to do additionals until we see what we’ve got in what funds,” Powers said.
That means it will be at least a while longer before Pulaski County Human Services may see the additional funds. On top of that, Frain also plans to request over $7,000 for the local share of a vehicle purchase. Neither additional appropriation has been formally advertised.
