Q&A
Fort Greene Council's reimbursement delays
0:59:09
ยท
130 sec
Council Member Crystal Hudson inquires about a $500,000 reimbursement delay for Fort Greene Council dating back to 2020. Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins explains the process of contract registration, budget approval, and invoice submission that led to the delay. She clarifies that payments were processed in late January 2025 for FY24 invoices.
- The delay was partly due to the need for a registered contract and an approved budget before invoice processing.
- Payments for July through November invoices were processed between January 28, 2025, and February 2025.
- The final FY24 payment for June services was remitted on October 11, 2024.
Crystal Hudson
0:59:09
But we've heard from the administration at Fork Green Council that they're still awaiting over $500,000 in reimbursements from child care services rendered in 2020.
0:59:18
What has caused this five year delay in processing this reimbursement?
Simone Hawkins
0:59:24
Am I still on mute?
0:59:26
Okay.
0:59:27
This document is fun y'all.
0:59:28
Okay.
0:59:30
Thank you for that question.
0:59:33
And so for Fort Greene Council, we have been working with that provider for quite some time around their FY '25 payments and so just a little context again, am sorry if I'm giving too much background, but it's important to understand process.
0:59:49
So if a provider does not have a registered contract, although we can work with them to pre approve their budget, they cannot begin to invoice us because we need a finally approved budget against a registered contract.
1:00:02
So that does cause some delay.
1:00:03
And so in the instances where we don't have a registered contract, again we have to work closely with the provider around potentially getting a bridge loan which is no interest to them and then again working with them to get a pre approved budget.
1:00:16
When their contract is registered they can finally submit a finally approved budget, begin invoicing us, and so we've been working with the provider for quite some time on budget revisions.
1:00:27
And so the budget was approved on January 7 finally and then the vendor submitted July through November invoices between that time and January 28, also some in February, and then payments were processed in late January.
1:00:43
So I'm not aware of any Sorry.
Crystal Hudson
1:00:44
You said the payments were processed in late January?
Simone Hawkins
1:00:46
Yes.
1:00:46
Yes, council member.
1:00:48
They were processed between 01/28/2025 as they started submitting them on a rolling basis.
1:00:54
The last invoice submitted for FY twenty four was for the June service month.
1:00:59
That service month requires a little bit more of an in-depth submission because it requires a little bit more reporting.
1:01:05
And so we received that was submitted on 09/20/2024 and we remitted payment 10/11/2024.
1:01:13
And so if there's any outstanding payments I'm happy to reach out but to our records we don't have any additional at this time.
Crystal Hudson
1:01:19
Okay.