County eying social spending increase

 

BY TERRY SCHMIDA

 

The Board of County Commissioners is considering restoring funding to social service spending by as much as 10 percent in its fiscal year 2015-16 budget, as the slowly improving economy has non-profit organizations urging politicians to do more to help the needy.

 

 

However, should the welcomed increase be doled out to the Health and Human Services Advisory Board (HSAB), which administers about $1.7 million per year to some 25 social service groups, spending on social services will still be off about 15 percent from their height in 2007.

 

 

The BOCC held its first budget workshop for the coming fiscal year on April 8, where commissioners discussed upping the HSAB’s funding to $175,260 per year.

 

 

Commissioner Sylvia Murphy, representing District Five had last year argued for a funding bump, and repeated her assertion at the recent meeting that spending more money upstream would allow the county to save “many millions” down the road.

 

 

Another vocal proponent of the funding increase was Diana Flenard, the executive director of the Monroe Association for ReMARCable Citizens, who pointed out that nearly all HSAB recipients put up matching funds, resulting in tens of thousands of extra money for their programs.

 

 

Not all commissioners were present at the meeting, however, a fact that Mayor Danny Kolhage took note of, stating that he’d like to see all commissioners in attendance for any vote on the matter. The mayor also stated that he wanted to see the increase put in context relative to the full county budget. The BOCC still has yet to determine the property tax rate for 2015-16, which will be set at a July 15 meeting, and finalized at another meeting on Sept. 11.

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