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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Altamirano

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/07

HB

SHORT TITLE Socorro Homeless Shelter Care

SB 804

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$60.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 804 appropriates $60.0 from the General Fund to the Local Government Division of

the Department of Finance and Administration for expenditure in FY08 to provide shelter care

services for the homeless in Socorro.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $60.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the General

Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The "Puerto Seguro" is a shelter care services program for the homeless currently operating this

project. The organization is a non-profit registered as a 501(c)(3). The building is owned by the

City of Socorro who provides space for this organization.

Senate Bill 804 – Page

2

Approximately 400 clients are served annually through this program. The program is open three

days a week providing: free hot lunch; provider referral services; free thrift shop for clothing and

basic household goods; shower and laundry availability; and, periodic overnight shelter to local

hotels as funding through donations is available. The program has one contract staff position at

20 hours a week through a small grant fund. In the past, the program has operated using other

grants as well as a prior legislative appropriation through the Albuquerque Housing Authority.

10 to 12 volunteers provide over 50 hours of services weekly.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The volunteer Finance Director for this program and a City of Socorro administrator state that

this appropriation is to fund one full-time manager position to oversee all operations of this pro-

gram. The funding includes salary and support funds for this position. The language in the bill

does not address that the funds are for a staff position. Funds will need to go through the City.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

DFA reports that the volunteers, including officers of the Board of Directors which also volun-

teer their time and effort are burdened with providing increased volunteer time to provide ad-

ministration services for this program. Hence, the need for a full time management position is

evident. An example is the 30 hours weekly volunteer time the Finance Director provides includ-

ing grant writing and administration. Volunteer staff is now being asked to go beyond workable

and realistic volunteer time which may result in loss of individual volunteers and their time and

effort due to increased demand and lack of paid full time staff.

WEP/nt