Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michelle Jackson, Executive Director of Human Services Council, on Late Payments to Human Service Providers
3:10:35
·
177 sec
Michelle Jackson, Executive Director of the Human Services Council, testifies about the urgent need for timely payments to human service providers in New York City. She emphasizes the severe impact of late payments on nonprofits and the communities they serve, criticizing the city's handling of the issue despite some improvements.
- Jackson highlights that there is currently $1 billion in unpaid invoices to human service providers.
- She points out that late payments force providers to miss payroll, go into debt, and close programs, directly impacting service recipients and workers.
- Jackson explains that various issues, including late contract registrations, slow invoice processing, and unapproved budget modifications, contribute to the problem of unspent funds and accruals.
Michelle Jackson
3:10:35
Well, you have that twentytwenty vision, you don't need it.
3:10:40
All right.
3:10:40
We're all here.
3:10:41
Okay.
3:10:42
Good afternoon, Chair Juan and Stevens.
3:10:45
My name is Michelle Jackson.
3:10:46
I'm the executive director of the Human Services Council.
3:10:49
I have to start by saying thank you for the passion that you're bringing to this and the attention.
3:10:53
I've been doing this longer than I want to admit and I'm really grateful to see the amount of focus and dedication that this issue is getting, and it's really because of the two of you, so thank you.
3:11:05
I submitted a very lovely testimony, but today what I will be saying is a testimony that made me upset, so it's a little bit different.
3:11:13
So I wanna start by saying passion doesn't pay the bills.
3:11:16
I have the utmost respect for my Citi colleagues.
3:11:19
I appreciate, first, that they still answer my calls in the midst of all of this, and I know they are working on some of what can feel like the most intractable pro like problems and really making progress in ways that will have meaningful change.
3:11:32
But passion doesn't pay the bills, and we did not really hear today answers on how we ended up here.
3:11:38
How did we end up with a billion dollars in unpaid invoices with 90% contracts being registered late?
3:11:43
There actually is a silver bullet.
3:11:45
Pay us on time.
3:11:46
That's it.
3:11:47
When we're not paid on time, there are real consequences to communities.
3:11:51
There's no space between the service and the contract.
3:11:54
If we are not if a nonprofit is not paid on the contract, it impacts the service to the community.
3:11:58
I will acknowledge that there have been big steps, allowance clauses, bigger advances, lots of different processes and directives that have clarified things for city agencies, and yet there's a billion in unpaid invoices right now amongst my membership.
3:12:11
The way this issue is spoken about is like money is a process.
3:12:15
Money is money.
3:12:16
I have providers who are missing payroll, who are going into debt, and who are closing programs.
3:12:21
Those things impact real people who receive those services and work at programs.
3:12:26
And I have to I do have to spend a minute on calling out the kind of unspent fund issues.
3:12:30
Providers are owed years of indirect, like going back to FY21.
3:12:35
Some of them never got their approved workforce enhancement funding, which means they were never able to give it out.
3:12:41
Enhancement modifications, the indirect, all of those different things like back up and if you can't spend that money, if your contract's registered late, sometimes you can't spend all that money in a year.
3:12:51
So they would spend all the money if their budget modifications were approved.
3:12:55
I'm preaching to the choir here, but if I don't get a paycheck, can't pay my bills.
3:12:59
Providers are working with unregistered contracts putting them at legal risk.
3:13:03
Then their invoices have slowed down, meaning they can't get paid in a timely way, which means they're not paying their bills.
3:13:08
Then their budget modifications aren't getting approved, meaning they can't spend for what's those unapproved expenses, and that is why we have accruals.
3:13:17
I'm done.
3:13:18
I'm good.
3:13:18
That was it.
3:13:19
You I just had my last line.
3:13:22
So, you know, these are the, you know, these are the reasons that we got here.
3:13:25
It's not And this legislation will greatly improve the process going forward, but we do need more action now in the current fiscal year.
3:13:31
Thank you.
Althea Stevens
3:13:16
We love you, but you got ten seconds.