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Pasco nonprofits brace for cuts

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Suncoast Harvest Food Bank and Clara's Closet charitable organizations are located on Ehren Cutoff.

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - For years now, the Suncoast Harvest Food Bank on Ehren Cutoff has covered part of its operating costs with the help of Pasco County.

Like more than two dozen charitable groups across the county, the food bank is now preparing to lose money when the county's new budget takes effect Oct. 1.

The county's food bank donation isn't a lot -- $10,000 in a $512,000 budget this year – but manager
Liz Fields said this week losing any money is troublesome at a time when demand for the bank's services is high.

"Our lines have increased 30 to 40 percent, and it's a very different crowd," Fields said. "You can't turn people away."

In the past, county commissioners gave the equivalent of $1 for every resident in the county's unincorporated areas to be split among local charities. In the current budget year, that amounted to about $380,000. This year, that support will be cut to the nub, leaving just $30,000.

What's left of the funding could be split among nonprofits or may be put into the United Way's 2-1-1 phone system, which refers callers to agencies that can help them. The county plans to eliminate its support for 2-1-1, but Commissioner Ann Hildebrand volunteered last week to look for a way to keep the system alive.

"The track record it had during the hurricanes [in 2004] was very, very valuable," said Hildebrand, who sits on the boards of several of the charities losing county support.

This is the third year in a row commissioners have considered cutting support for charities as a way of reducing the county's budget.

Two years ago, Hildebrand sharply rebuked Commissioner Pat Mulieri when Mulieri suggested cutting support for charities. Mulieri lost that vote 4-1. Last year, support for charities survived by a 3-2 vote with Commissioner Ted Schrader joining Mulieri.

This year, commissioners are looking at a $35.7 million budget shortfall for 2009-2010, a fact that has forced them to make drastic cuts to a variety of programs. Hildebrand said she expects to support the cuts.

"My heart doesn't want to do it," she said. "But my head says we have to make so many serious cuts."

For many in the nonprofit community, the feel of the budget ax this year wasn't a surprise.

"We tell the agencies every year not to count on the government money because priorities can change and levels can change," said Susan Arnett, head of United Way of Pasco County, which distributes the county funds.

Arnett said her group has reduced its staff and cut salaries as a way of keeping United Way support for nonprofits steady. County funds amounted to nearly half the $780,000 the United Way awarded other groups this year, Arnett said.

Many of the nonprofits getting county support use that money to qualify for grants that required a local match, Arnett said.

Fields worries the loss of county support will force smaller charities to fall back on larger ones, like the food bank, for more help.

"We need to actually expand our services as other nonprofits lose funding," Fields said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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