By:Scott Brinton
Barry Wilansky sat nervously last November, wondering whether Tempo Group would survive.
The North Merrick drug-treatment clinic, for which Wilanksy serves as executive director, hadn't yet received a $100,000 payment for its 1999 contract with Nassau County. That left Wilansky to question whether Tempo would ever get paid for any of its county contracts.
Today, Tempo's survival prospects look better than they did in the fall.
Last week, after continued pressure from county Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick), Nassau at last paid its 1999 contract with the agency, which treats more than 500 drug-addicted students from throughout Bellmore-Merrick.
Wilansky said, "With the able leadership of Legis. Denenberg, Nassau County did finally pay the 1999 contract, and I believe we received the final funding last week. In February 2001, they paid off 1999, and we're ecstatic."
Tempo remains in dire straits, however.
For starters, Nassau signed off on its 2000 contract with the agency, but the county hasn't fully paid it, Wilansky said.
In December 1999, Tempo was saddled with a $150,000 deficit in its 2000 budget when the county suddenly cut its contract with the agency by 50 percent. The reduction was part of an across-the-board, $9.8-million county cut to human-service agencies. Nassau Executive Thomas Gulotta (R-North Merrick) ordered the cut to help fill a budget hole.
In February 2000, state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) secured a $100,000 state grant that allowed Tempo to pay its 1999 debts and hobble through last year. Today, however, the agency remains crippled by an estimated $150,000 deficit owing to last year's county cuts.
For Tempo, those cuts are to remain in effect for 2001, meaning the agency faces yet another $150,000 budget deficit, according to Wilansky. "We have no monies for 2001," he said.
Denenberg has secured a promise from Briding Newall, commissioner of the county Department of Drug and Alcohol, "to make the effort to fund some of the deficit in [Tempo's] contract," Wilansky said. Whether that's possible is to be seen, however.
Denenberg hopes Nassau will redirect county funds from closed human-service agencies to Tempo Group, but he must continually lobby for those dollars. "It's somewhat of a waiting game," he said. "You have to constantly be on the phone."
Wilansky holds little hope that Tempo-North Merrick will be able to continue offering its current service level. He does believe there will be "some partial restitution" of the county dollars that the agency lost last year, particularly after it was revealed that Nassau is enjoying a $48-million budget surplus for 2000.
Wilanksy, however, said, "If we do not receive full funding for the contract year 2001, there is no way we can provide full services to the community. At that point, we'll have to cut services. ..."
Right now, Tempo treats Bellmore-Merrick students with seven full-time and three part-time social workers. Its clinic at the Brookside School in North Merrick is the only of its kind in the area.
Wilansky believes the only way for Tempo to survive in its current form is to have its funding come from the state Office of Substance Abuse Services. In that case, Tempo's funding would become part of the state budget, which is now in far better shape than Nassau County's.
Fuschillo has called upon Gov. Pataki to include Tempo's funding in the 2001 state budget. Whether the governor will is uncertain.
"We are eagerly awaiting Sen. Fuschillo's efforts in Albany," Wilansky said.
