By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Outside agencies that have traditionally received funding from Ellis County are feeling the county’s budget crunch this year in the form of cuts.
Although the county has not approved its final budget, commissioners recommended $124,000 in cuts for the 16 agencies that requested funds for the 2020 fiscal year.
Some of the agencies said they would attempt to raise more private funds. Others suggested they might have to cut staff or programming.
Hays Arts Council
The Hays Arts Council requested $3,385, and its funding, along with the funding for the Ellis Jr. Free Fair, was cut entirely.
Brenda Meder, HAC director, said the agency’s funding from the county has been steadily decreasing over the last several years.
She said the agency has planned to make a push for more memberships in attempts to make up for the county funding cut. The HAC will also look at its reserve funds or adding a fundraiser, she said.
Meder said she was disappointed to see the funding cut completely.
“There is something to be said in being validated as a community entity that is truly there to serve the broadest needs of the community in regards to quality of life,” Meder said.
DSNWK
Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas had its funding reduced from $240,000 to $215,000. It also manages the community’s general public transportation service, ACCESS, which was cut from $60,000 to $50,000.
Because ACCESS funds are matched, the service will lose another $23,000 in matching funds.
Jerry Michaud, DSNWK president/CEO, said the agency is already stressed trying to make up the difference between the actual cost of services for community members with developmental disabilities and state reimbursement rates.
“We can’t go to the state and say we’ve lost $57,000 and can you help fill that gap,” Michaud said. “It is not the way it works. We have to figure out how do we stretch something that is already stretched. It’s a challenge.”
The agency is still required to serve the same number of people and provide the same level of services, but with less money.
Michaud said DSNWK will strive to not allow the cuts to affect staff or services.
“What we have is what we need, and [we] need more,” he said. “Potentially for crisis types of needs, we may look at donations as a way to supplement, but that’s not a long-term solution. Generally donors, I can’t speak for all, donors are not interested in paying for your light bill. They are not interested in paying for those types of things.”
Michaud mentioned in his presentation to commissioners that the agency has struggled to recruit and retain care professionals because of low wages and a shortage of workers in the labor pool. He said the county cuts will not improve the agency’s staffing challenges.
High Plains Mental Health
High Plains Mental Health received the second largest cut in terms of dollars. It received $281,646 in 2019 and will receive $260,000 in 2020 if the budget passes with the commissioners’ current recommendations.
The county is required to fund HPMH per an interlocal agreement; however, Director Walt Hill said the agreement does not specify the amount.
The county mental health agency recommends a dollar amount annually based on a formula that is in part based on the counties residents’ use of the High Plains’ services.
Hill said although the cut is significant, county funding from all of the counties the mental health agency only accounts for about 8 percent of the agency’s budget.
“One of the things we are headed to is focusing on individuals paying their share of the cost of services — making sure we focus on people paying their bills as they go,” he said. “Anymore as you go to the doctor’s office, you are asked to pay for the service for the day, and I think we may have to move more and more in that direction.”
About half of the clients HPMH sees have family incomes of less than $25,000 per year. HPMH offers a sliding-fee scale and allows clients to extend payments, so Hill said payment should not be a barrier to receiving services.
“Our budget won’t happen until December, so we will know what counties will do and then we work around what resources we have in terms of if we can give raises to staff, in terms of what we can afford in capital outlay next year,” Hill said.
Conservation District
The Ellis County Conservation District was so concerned about the effects of its cut of more than $17,000, it went back to the county commission to ask some of the funding be restored.
Sandra Scott, district manager, said the county cut would mean the district would have to eliminate a decades-long cost-sharing program that supports terracing and soil conservation efforts at local farms. The county money pays for an average of six projects per year, depending on the size of the projects.
The commissioners told district officials Monday night it would not reinstate any of the funding.
Humane Society
Humane Society of the High Plains shelter manager Betty Hansen said the Humane society was expecting the cut. It reduced its request from $4,500 to $3,000, and the commissioners recommended $2,600.
The agency will attempt another fundraiser to try to make up the difference in funding. They are planning an event with Defiance Brewing Co. in September.
“We work with what we are given is the way we look at it,” Hansen said.
The community has been responsive to the funding need. Several people have dropped donations at the shelter in a response to the news of the county cut, Hansen said.
Hansen said she was concerned about the long-term effects of funding cuts. The other alternative would be to charge for strays that are surrendered from the county.
The shelter is using the county money to pay for the care of strays. Shelter officials don’t want to charge people who surrender those animals because workers are concerned people will stop bringing in the strays, and the animals will be left to die or run wild.
“It is not that you have to pay,” Hansen said. “It is the animal needs help, and we are going to do it one way or the other. We will figure it out. If someone is kind enough to pick up puppies out of a ditch and bring them to us, we are going to take care of them.”
Although the Humane Society’s donors have been generous, Hansen said there is a limit to the amount of money any agency can raise, and all the nonprofits that requested funds from the county are being affected in the same way.
NWKP&DC
The Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission wrote the grant that secured $1 million in funding for a new pool in Ellis, but its funding was cut from $38,877 to $22,500.
Randall Hrabe, development commission director, said Ellis County will likely not be the only county that cuts the development commission’s funding for 2020.
He said the agency offers about $20 million in business loans across northwest Kansas as well as oversees low-income housing projects across the the region. Two homes are being prepared for sale in Hays through a development commission project.
“I would like to see everyone support it,” Hrabe said. “If Ellis County has to cut $2 million from its budget, somebody’s got to get cut.”
Grow Hays
Grow Hays did not receive any funds from the Ellis County last year. However, it requested $50,000 for 2020. Director Doug Williams told the commission, the economic development organization would no longer be able to operate after the 2019 fiscal year if it was not at least partially funded by local municipalities.
All economic development organizations in the state are at least partially funded by local governments with many of them funded 100 percent with taxpayer money.
Grow Hays requested $50,000 from the county, but the commissioners cut that to $27,500. The agency has also requested $100,000 from the city of Hays, $4,000 from the city of Ellis and $1,000 from the city of Victoria.
Williams said the agency’s budget will hinge on what the city of Hays comes back with in the next couple of weeks. He noted the city of Hays and Ellis County both provided more than $100,000 each to the the organization in the past. Those ties were temporarily cut during a recent reorganization. The organization, in the interim, has relied on reserves and private funding.
Williams said that model is not sustainable.
Williams said he thought Grow Hays is not only important to the economic health of Ellis County, but all of northwest Kansas.
“We face a lot of challenges out here in terms of population loss and trying to maintain the businesses we have and attract others. The funding of our organization to do those type of things is critically important,” he said.
Ellis County Historical Society
Lee Dobratz, director of the Ellis County Historical Society, said she did not want to comment for this story.
However, she said during her presentation to the county commission, the historical society would have to cut a staff member if its funding was cut.
Dobratz raised concerns about the historical society’s facilities. Part of the historical society’s collection had to be temporarily moved recently when a section of plaster fell from a wall due to water damage.
She said the organization is working on a strategic plan, which could include a new building. The agency also hopes to begin fundraising for an endowment, Dobratz told the commissioners.