Human service agencies hope the recent tax increase will stop the trend of cuts year after year, though hope does not translate into confidence at this point. Project the experiences of the agencies mentioned to all the other areas of the state and it is a staggering amount of employees losing their jobs and people losing important services.
Human service agencies also hope a proposed bond sale by the state will catch up their bills. This would be a big help. In many ways, the late payments have been even more devastating than the budget cuts. Another provision of this, which wouldn’t help the nonprofit SU, would make it possible for the state to pay the $1 billion in tax refunds it owes to businesses, which would surely help out the state economy. It would also allow the state to refinance current debt at a better interest rate and to be able to make the pension payment for this fiscal year.
Here at SU we’ve received payments for services rendered as recently as August, which is a big improvement and a great help.