Two Merced County social services centers are reeling from funding cuts included in California's recently adopted budget.
Golden Valley Health Centers will get less state money to treat uninsured residents and anticipates an increase in patients because of deep cuts to the Healthy Families program, which helps to insure children.
Meantime, Merced's domestic violence help center, run by Mountain Crisis Center, is faced with overhauling its operations and reducing some services following a major cut in funding.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday eliminated California's Domestic Violence Program, which funnels $20.4 million to 94 shelters and centers.
Mountain Crisis Services will lose $207,000, roughly one-fifth of its budget, nonprofit President Candy O'Donel-Browne said Wednesday. So far, no decisions have been made on how the nonprofit will deal with the lost revenue.
"We're adapting to how serious this is going to be," O'Donel-Browne said from the Mariposa office.
Senior management met Tuesday night and came up with 40 different ideas of what can be done. She wouldn't elaborate on the suggestions, though she said some were plausible while others were "off-the-wall."
The governor's cut came as a surprise as the Legislature approved a 20-percent funding cut to the state program. O'Donel-Browne said management was able to rework the budget to absorb what would have been about a $40,000 hit.
The nonprofit has a $1 million budget, though much of it must go toward prevention and not domestic violence help. The state funding just cut went toward running the shelters and represents one of its four main funding sources.
Golden Valley Health Centers Deputy Chief Executive Officer Christine Noguera said her center will lose $1.5 million as a result of the state's budget cuts. That money went to caring for people who don't have health insurance.
Making the situation worse, she said the cuts to Healthy Families means that more uninsured children will go to the center for help.
"It's a real dilemma for Golden Valley," Noguera said. "I don't see the bright light at the end of the tunnel, except for perhaps the federal health care reform. But I'm not sure where that's going either."
Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or sjason@mercedsun-star.com.
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