W-2 surplus: reinvest in services or return to Wisc. taxpayers?
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Sat, 24 Oct 1998 02:53:34 -0400
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/981016returnofw2surplustota.asp
FWD Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 16, 1998
RETURN OF W-2 SURPLUS TO TAXPAYERS URGED
By Margo Huston of the Journal Sentinel staff
One of the main architects of Wisconsin Works on Thursday urged counties
and the state to use some of the huge W-2 surpluses to save taxpayers
money.
"Working families in the state should see a benefit in their own
pocketbook," said state Rep. John Gard (R-Peshtigo), co-chairman of the
Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.
He said that a faster than expected reduction of W-2 participants on cash
assistance had generated larger than expected surpluses.
"We should not just spend it somewhere else," he said. "We need to show
taxpayers across the state that there's a benefit to them to having fewer
people receiving welfare."
Gard said that some of the money could go into needed programs, but another
part could be used to pay for programs that are now funded by either county
or state tax dollars.
The state did not make a mistake in its projections of W-2 spending and
caseload, he said.
"We wanted to make sure there was enough money built into these contracts,"
Gard said, "so that if the caseloads didn't drop, county taxpayers were not
left holding the bag."
Current caseloads for cash assistance are 10,500, less than one-third the
36,000 projected to be in the program at this point.
Sen. Gwendolynne Moore (D-Milwaukee), responding to Gard's remarks, said,
"The money ought not to be scattered that way and returned to taxpayers."
Instead, she said, the money should be reinvested in needed programs,
including education of W-2 participants, rent subsidies to families on the
brink of homelessness, reducing child-care co-payments for 18- and
19-year-old mothers, increasing supports for disabled parents and payments
to more people in the Kinship Care program, under which children are cared
for by relatives.
A Journal Sentinel analysis Thursday of the W-2 surplus shows that the
state could be the biggest winner of surplus dollars, getting as much as
$31 million back out of the program.
According to a complex formula outlining the distribution of surplus money
from W-2, the state's share of what is commonly called "unspent funds" is
the same as the share to be given to W-2 agencies to be used as "community
reinvestment" money.
Another category, agency profits, could amount to $22 million statewide,
according to the newspaper's analysis of records provided by the Department
of Workforce Development, which administers W-2.
The community reinvestment money -- which also could be as much as $31
million -- must go for services to low-income people, according to state
contracts with W-2 agencies. The state's $31 million has to be spent in
accordance with the guidelines for the use of federal Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families dollars.
The basic point is that TANF money must go to needy families, said Hannah
Rosenthal, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
W-2 agencies -- for the most part counties, but private agencies in
Milwaukee and Waukesha counties and a handful of other areas -- will have
until Nov. 16 to give the state plans on how they want to use their
windfall of community reinvestment money. They do not have to take the
money at this time.
All of this money is part of the state's estimated W-2 budget surplus of
$115 million for the first 11 months of the work-based welfare initiative
-- from Sept. 1 of last year through July of this year. (The state also has
a $71 million surplus in child-care block grant dollars, which is separate
from the TANF surpluses.)
A new provision of W-2 contracts allows for earlier distribution than
originally envisioned of some of the profits and of the community
reinvestment money and the state's share of unspent money.
The money is to be paid by the end of December.
The intent of the new provision is to allow the state and the W-2 agencies
to get money after the first year of W-2 to reinvest in needed services,
said Linda Stewart, Department of Workforce Development secretary.
W-2 agencies, in their plans to be submitted to the state, must tell how
any new "community reinvestment" services would not duplicate the services
or the people being served under W-2 contracts with the state. The plans
must also describe:
What services are proposed to be provided.
Who is expected to benefit from the services.
What provider is going to deliver the services.
When the services will be delivered.
What the estimated budget will be.
The new provision puts agencies that receive the earlier than planned
distribution of money at some risk. Agencies will have to repay the money
to the state if, after their final profits are figured when their contracts
end, the surplus turns out to be less.
Many community advocates have called on the state to use more money for
drug and alcohol treatment programs.
On Thursday, Stewart announced that W-2 would expand to include drug and
alcohol testing and treatment. W-2 participants who are suspected of drug
or alcohol abuse will be required to participate in testing or treatment --
and failure to do so could cause the participant to lose all or part of
their check.
Milwaukee's five W-2 agencies could share in as much as $5.4 million in
community investment money and $9 million in profits. Each agency may
determine how it wants to spend its profits.
The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee has called on the five
agencies and the Private Industry Council, which oversees W-2 in Milwaukee
County, to have public hearings on the use of the money.
George Leutermann, vice president of the welfare reform division at
Maximus, one of Milwaukee's two profit-making W-2 agencies, said Thursday
that his agency planned to use its reinvestment money primarily for job
readiness and training and planned to reinvest some of its profits back
into the community.
He said his agency was not planning to have hearings but that the agency's
steering committee would have its regularly scheduled November meeting at
8:30 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Maximus office, 1304 S. 17th St. The meeting is
open to the public and use of the reinvestment money will be on the agenda,
he said.
A spokesman for the non-profit United Migrant Opportunity Services said the
idea of hearings was interesting but added that the agency's board and its
W-2 steering committee provided a lot of community input.
A spokesman for YW Works, a for-profit partnership of CNR Health, Kaiser
Group and the YWCA, said a decision on whether to apply for the community
reinvestment money would be made next week.
The other agencies are Opportunities Industrialization Center and
Employment Solutions, a division of Goodwill Industries.
Richard Chandler, state budget director, said that citizens or groups with
ideas or proposals for the use of the W-2 surpluses should contact Stewart.
Her address is: Office of the Secretary, 201 E. Washington Ave., Room 400X,
P.O. Box 7946, Madison, WI 53707-7946
END FORWARD
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/981016returnofw2surplustota.asp
FWD Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 16, 1998
<paraindent><param>right,left</param>RETURN OF W-2 SURPLUS TO TAXPAYERS
URGED
By Margo Huston of the Journal Sentinel staff
</paraindent>
One of the main architects of Wisconsin Works on Thursday urged
counties and the state to use some of the huge W-2 surpluses to save
taxpayers money.
"Working families in the state should see a benefit in their own
pocketbook," said state Rep. John Gard (R-Peshtigo), co-chairman of the
Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.
He said that a faster than expected reduction of W-2 participants on
cash assistance had generated larger than expected surpluses.
"We should not just spend it somewhere else," he said. "We need to show
taxpayers across the state that there's a benefit to them to having
fewer people receiving welfare."
Gard said that some of the money could go into needed programs, but
another part could be used to pay for programs that are now funded by
either county or state tax dollars.
The state did not make a mistake in its projections of W-2 spending and
caseload, he said.
"We wanted to make sure there was enough money built into these
contracts," Gard said, "so that if the caseloads didn't drop, county
taxpayers were not left holding the bag."
Current caseloads for cash assistance are 10,500, less than one-third
the 36,000 projected to be in the program at this point.
Sen. Gwendolynne Moore (D-Milwaukee), responding to Gard's remarks,
said, "The money ought not to be scattered that way and returned to
taxpayers."
Instead, she said, the money should be reinvested in needed programs,
including education of W-2 participants, rent subsidies to families on
the brink of homelessness, reducing child-care co-payments for 18- and
19-year-old mothers, increasing supports for disabled parents and
payments to more people in the Kinship Care program, under which
children are cared for by relatives.
A Journal Sentinel analysis Thursday of the W-2 surplus shows that the
state could be the biggest winner of surplus dollars, getting as much
as $31 million back out of the program.
According to a complex formula outlining the distribution of surplus
money from W-2, the state's share of what is commonly called "unspent
funds" is the same as the share to be given to W-2 agencies to be used
as "community reinvestment" money.
Another category, agency profits, could amount to $22 million
statewide, according to the newspaper's analysis of records provided by
the Department of Workforce Development, which administers W-2.
The community reinvestment money -- which also could be as much as $31
million -- must go for services to low-income people, according to
state contracts with W-2 agencies. The state's $31 million has to be
spent in accordance with the guidelines for the use of federal
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars.
The basic point is that TANF money must go to needy families, said
Hannah Rosenthal, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
W-2 agencies -- for the most part counties, but private agencies in
Milwaukee and Waukesha counties and a handful of other areas -- will
have until Nov. 16 to give the state plans on how they want to use
their windfall of community reinvestment money. They do not have to
take the money at this time.
All of this money is part of the state's estimated W-2 budget surplus
of $115 million for the first 11 months of the work-based welfare
initiative -- from Sept. 1 of last year through July of this year. (The
state also has a $71 million surplus in child-care block grant dollars,
which is separate from the TANF surpluses.)
A new provision of W-2 contracts allows for earlier distribution than
originally envisioned of some of the profits and of the community
reinvestment money and the state's share of unspent money.
The money is to be paid by the end of December.
The intent of the new provision is to allow the state and the W-2
agencies to get money after the first year of W-2 to reinvest in needed
services, said Linda Stewart, Department of Workforce Development
secretary.
W-2 agencies, in their plans to be submitted to the state, must tell
how any new "community reinvestment" services would not duplicate the
services or the people being served under W-2 contracts with the state.
The plans must also describe:
What services are proposed to be provided.
Who is expected to benefit from the services.
What provider is going to deliver the services.
When the services will be delivered.
What the estimated budget will be.
The new provision puts agencies that receive the earlier than planned
distribution of money at some risk. Agencies will have to repay the
money to the state if, after their final profits are figured when their
contracts end, the surplus turns out to be less.
Many community advocates have called on the state to use more money for
drug and alcohol treatment programs.
On Thursday, Stewart announced that W-2 would expand to include drug
and alcohol testing and treatment. W-2 participants who are suspected
of drug or alcohol abuse will be required to participate in testing or
treatment -- and failure to do so could cause the participant to lose
all or part of their check.
Milwaukee's five W-2 agencies could share in as much as $5.4 million in
community investment money and $9 million in profits. Each agency may
determine how it wants to spend its profits.
The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee has called on the five
agencies and the Private Industry Council, which oversees W-2 in
Milwaukee County, to have public hearings on the use of the money.
George Leutermann, vice president of the welfare reform division at
Maximus, one of Milwaukee's two profit-making W-2 agencies, said
Thursday that his agency planned to use its reinvestment money
primarily for job readiness and training and planned to reinvest some
of its profits back into the community.
He said his agency was not planning to have hearings but that the
agency's steering committee would have its regularly scheduled November
meeting at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Maximus office, 1304 S. 17th St. The
meeting is open to the public and use of the reinvestment money will be
on the agenda, he said.
A spokesman for the non-profit United Migrant Opportunity Services said
the idea of hearings was interesting but added that the agency's board
and its W-2 steering committee provided a lot of community input.
A spokesman for YW Works, a for-profit partnership of CNR Health,
Kaiser Group and the YWCA, said a decision on whether to apply for the
community reinvestment money would be made next week.
The other agencies are Opportunities Industrialization Center and
Employment Solutions, a division of Goodwill Industries.
Richard Chandler, state budget director, said that citizens or groups
with ideas or proposals for the use of the W-2 surpluses should contact
Stewart. Her address is: Office of the Secretary, 201 E. Washington
Ave., Room 400X, P.O. Box 7946, Madison, WI 53707-7946
END FORWARD
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/> Home Page
ARCHIVES <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html> read posts to HPN
TO JOIN <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <<wgcp@earthlink.net>
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