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Committee Approves State-Reserve Backfill Amendments to Support Childcare and Adult Day Health Providers
Summary
The committee approved amendments to a supplemental appropriation from the state revenue loss reserve to backfill state cuts affecting childcare, adult day health and cultural programs, and forwarded the item with the budget analyst—s recommendations after extensive testimony from childcare and eldercare providers.
The Budget & Finance Committee considered an ordinance to appropriate funds from the city—s state revenue loss reserve to backfill state budget cuts that affect childcare, adult day health centers and cultural organizations. Mayor—s Budget Director Kate Howard presented a revised request totaling approximately $6.6 million from the state reserve to support several departments and programs.
Howard said the supplemental would address reductions in Title 5 childcare ($2.8M in the proposal) and adult day health retroactive rate adjustments (a $400,000 request), among other items. The package also proposed funding for certain Department of Public Health and Human Services Agency adjustments tied to the state budget changes and redevelopment dissolution impacts on arts projects such as the Bayview Opera House.
The Budget Legislative Analyst proposed amendments to reduce certain requested appropriations (including deleting $1.8M originally attributed to the Children & Families Commission where the commission had sufficient reserves) and recommended approving unavoidable costs totaling approximately $3,008,934 while leaving policy choices for the Board.
Many nonprofit childcare directors and adult day health administrators testified in support of the backfill, citing long waiting lists for subsidized childcare (speakers repeatedly used figures in the thousands for families waiting) and that a 10 percent rate cut significantly threatens program viability and caregiver employment. Leland Long of Faces SF, Monica Walters of WUI Children—s Services, Maria Listero of Parent Voices, and several adult day health providers described direct service impacts and urged approval.
The committee accepted the budget analyst—s recommendations, adopted the circulated amendments and forwarded the revised appropriation to the full Board with recommendation.
What happens next: The item will be on the Board of Supervisors agenda for approval of the amended appropriation; city staff and nonprofit providers will continue to monitor state and federal actions that may affect the city—s need to backfill services in future years.
