While many organizations and interest groups will be lobbying the state legislature not to cut their funding this session, the nonprofit community will be asking for a pay raise.
The Nonprofit Human Services Alliance is asking Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislators to include in their two-year budget an 8.52 percent cost of living increase to all purchase-of-service contracts and Medicaid fee-for-service accounts.
The pay hike, the nonprofit association says, is consistent with the average annual growth rate of the Consumer Price Index over the last five years, and would make up for a lack of funding increases the nonprofit community has dealt with since the Great Recession.
The ask, however, comes as the state faces billion-dollar deficits for the next two fiscal years, which means nonprofits have an uphill battle to secure more funding.
One option, according to Jeff Shaw, director of public policy for the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits, is to use a phase-in approach that would link state funding increases for purchase-of-service contracts to the annual percentage increase in personal income or inflation.
“The rationale for still making the case for the 8.52 percent rather than just hoping to be held harmless this biennium is to secure a commitment now, while continuing to foster understanding from policymakers that investing in the entire nonprofit system is a way toward economic growth and better quality of life for all,” Shaw said.
According to a recent report published by NHSA, the state allocated $1.38 billion, or 7 percent of the overall state budget, for nonprofit human services providers in 2014.
That included 1,585 contracts through 10 state agencies for health and human services delivered to 500,000 residents, or 15 percent of the state population.
Meantime, in five out of the last six years, nonprofit providers haven’t seen a funding increase, and they’ve also faced budget rescissions, the report said.
One of the impacts of chronic underfunding is that nonprofits are being forced to compete against each other for scarce resources, the report said. — Greg Bordonaro
