LAKE COUNTY ? For Lakeport childcare provider Serena Haas, this is the first time in 13 years that the state”s mid-year budget review has made her angry.
That”s because North Coast Opportunities (NCO), the umbrella agency for Rural Communities Childcare, is one of several service agencies that can expect to receive an IOU from the state instead of a check.
For approximately 75 home childcare providers like Haas in Lake and Mendocino counties, that means the March payment may be held until further notice.
“We can”t pay our bills with IOUs, what makes them think they can?” Haas said.
Usually, it”s just the state”s pattern of passing its annual budget late during the summer that worries Haas. But she said she prepares for that by socking money away in advance. Haas wasn”t expecting her monthly paycheck to be delayed in the middle of spring.
Rural Communities Childcare Co-director Teri Sedrick said she received an e-mail from State Controller John Chiang stating that the February checks will not be delayed as initially expected, but the agency may get an IOU in March or later.
“It”s going to be a month-to-month thing,” Sedrick said.
Haas received a letter from the agency asking providers to contact their state representatives. Haas also wrote to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama, telling them she was a single mother with no other source of income.
Haas receives state money through NCO for 90 percent of the children in her care. She said she would ask parents to send meals with their children if it came to that, but what she normally does in the face of budget delays is ask her landlord and creditors to be patient.
Last year”s budget delay made finances tight for a month and a half for Lakeport childcare provider Angie Demaria-Souza, even with two incomes. She said like Haas, much of her income comes from the state.
Sedrick said she is hoping the state doesn”t propose deep cuts in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
“One of the ways this can be stopped is by childcare providers getting on the horn with the State of California and telling them how important their profession is to families, to the economy, to employers,” Sedrick said.
Rural Communities Childcare provides subsidized and sliding scale childcare for low- to moderate-income families who have children from birth to 13 years old. As of Monday, the agency served 554 families and 951 children.
“We appreciate every one of our childcare providers and we hate when they have to deal with this budget stuff. We like to get them paid on time every month for the job they do. Without them, our county would be in a world of hurt. We put our most precious items in their hands every day,” Sedrick said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
